


Blanket Retrieval Arc

by HelloThereGhoul



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, I thought the title was funny because the fell for each other in the Sasuke retrieval arc, M/M, My First Fanfic, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, kankiba - Freeform, people being good to each other, this college has a puppetry program, weed/alcohol use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27743533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloThereGhoul/pseuds/HelloThereGhoul
Summary: A late night fire alarm goes off in the college dorm and Kankuro lends his blanket to a cold and shirtless Kiba.Kankuro doesn't expect to end up falling for him, and can hardly believe Kiba's falling for him too.A lot of flirting, dog walking, and good sibling friendships.
Relationships: Gaara & Kankurou & Temari, Inuzuka Kiba/Kankurou, Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Comments: 70
Kudos: 78





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first real posted fic! I'm nervous, but ya know, it's 2020, why not just go for it? Any comments/constructive criticism would be so great!!!
> 
> I started off with the prompt: "hey the fire alarm in our dorm went off at 3am and you ran outside without a coat wanna share my blanket?" but it isn't quite that.
> 
> I'm having so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it! :)

Kankuro couldn’t believe the fire alarm was going off again. It was mid October, they hadn’t been in the dorms that long, he didn’t understand how this happened so often. He had fallen asleep with the light on, and his laptop sitting on his chest, the screen now black. He stood up and yawned, slipping on a pair of flip flops and a hoodie. He grabbed his knit blanket off the bed, and wrapped it around his shoulders. Gaara had made it for him when Kankuro had first left for college, three years ago. He slung it over his shoulders, it sat there with a familiarity that brought him immediate comfort. 

The shrill fire alarm continued, and lights flashed as Kankuro headed to the hall, brushing past other sleepy students, and headed outside onto the small lawn next to the dorm.  
It was already so cold for the time of year, a small crispy coating of ice covered the grass. Kankuro headed over to a nearby tree, far away enough to be safe, but close enough that he could head right back to bed when this was all over. He leaned against the tree, facing the dorm. He saw no obvious signs of fire, it had probably some freshmen trying to smoke in their room, or someone burning microwavable popcorn, it usually was. Now it was just time to wait for the ok to go back into the building. The lawn slowly filled with some other students exiting the building, no one in an obvious rushed concern for safety. 

Kankuro gave some polite nods and waves to people he knew from the building or from class, and then closed his eyes, using the tree to support himself, the hood of his sweatshirt bunched up behind his head like a pillow. He felt like he could almost fall asleep there… and then he felt something warm and wet on his foot. He looked down to see a little brown and white dog, lifting its leg and urinating on his sandaled foot and on the base of the tree. 

“What the fuck!?” Kankuro exclaimed as he stepped away, trying to shake the pee off his foot and losing his flip flop in the process. The dog wagged its tail and gave a happy little woof, no sign of knowing he did anything wrong, and clearly loving the attention he was getting. 

“Akamaru!- ah shit, did he piss on you?” Kankuro looked up from trying to rub his foot on the grass to the guy in front of him. He couldn’t help but stare for a moment, particularly because the guy was only wearing a pair of shorts. He was lanky, tan, and toned and was holding a small cloth item in his hands.  
“Akamaru! Come here!” The newcomer crouched down and pulled a little sweater over the wiggling dog’s head “it’s cold out here dude!” he said sternly to the dog, more concerned with his dog’s comfort than the fact that his dog had gone to the bathroom on a stranger. He turned to Kankuro again, “sorry man, this is his favorite piss spot! I uh… I don’t have anything to offer you to clean it up, I’m sorry!” 

Kankuro’s look to the tiny dog’s sweatshirt must have been obvious. (He now saw was printed with the college logo and the phrase “available for playdates!”) The dog’s owner said “c’mon, I can’t use his shirt, he’ll be cold!” Again, Kankuro’s gaze must have been obvious as he looked the now shivering guy up and down. “I only had time to grab his clothes!!!” he pouted. 

By now a fire truck had arrived, it’s lights blinking as a couple sleepy looking firemen walked into the building without much urgency. 

“Whatever, it’s fine, I’ll clean it up when I get inside” Kankuro sighed, slipping on his sandal again, grimacing at the wetness. The little dog was circling his foot, sniffing and wagging happily, but then stopped and started barking as Naruto, Kankuro’s hallway neighbor came drunkenly whooping over. “KIIIIBA!” Naruto hollered, and attempted to jump piggyback onto the dog’s owner. Kiba stepped out of the way in time, and Naruto tumbled into the grass, right next to the pee spot.

Kankuro stepped away “Naruto, seriously?” he scoffed. Three years ago, Kankuro and Naruto had been assigned to be freshmen roommates. It had only lasted a few weeks, Kankuro eventually became tired of drunken excited rants, ramen cups all over the room, and general rudeness. The time Naruto had tried to bring a wild fox into their dorm, convinced he could tame it, had been the last straw for Kankuro. He had requested to be moved to a single room, which he had continued to request since, this year included. But some cruel luck had always kept the two of them in the same dorm building, once they had even been in the same hall. 

“Heyyyyyy puppet guy” Naruto slurred, “I know you!!! Kiba, you know this puppet guy?!” He tried to stand up, his hands slipping on the wet grass, and he ungracefully tried to stand. He was eventually hoisted up by a dark haired girl, clearly also intoxicated, but seemingly in more control than Naruto. “C’mon babe, get up!” she said as she lifted a clumsy Naruto. “Hey Kiba! you look cold!” she said and she and Naruto stumbled away together to a nearby bench.

Kiba had picked up his dog during the middle of this, and was clutching him to his chest, shivering. Kankuro sighed, and reluctantly pulled the blanket off his shoulders, handing it to Kiba. “Here, you’re freezing, just... don’t get pee on it”. Kiba gratefully accepted, wrapping the red and tan colored afghan around himself and Akamaru. Kankuro rolled his eyes at him wrapping up the dog, but decided he would try to lint roll it later, hopefully the dog didn’t stink. 

“So, uh… you know Naruto?” Kiba tried to start up a conversation, Akamaru wriggling in his arms. 

“Yeah, unfortunately, just from around the dorms” 

“Oh yeah, we’re on the lacrosse team together, he’s kinda a lot when he’s drunk”

That explained the abs. Kankuro was already guarded around people, but felt his defenses rise up a little. His high school experience had been almost made for TV, the goth art kid bullied by jocks. Nothing too serious, but it was enough for him to swear off jocks forever. 

“So… uh… you’re a … puppet guy?” Kiba asked as he put the squirming dog back on the ground. Kankuro saw the edges of the blanket grazing the grass when he crouched down and winced. This was a lot. 

“Yeah, you know, we don’t need to get into it man, it’s like three in the morning, I just want to go back to bed” Kankuro snapped. He didn’t expect to see Kiba look so hurt at this. Like this lacrosse player wanted to hear about the university’s puppetry program. Kankuro went back to lean on the tree, as far from the pee as he could, and closed his eyes again. He just wanted to go back inside and go back to bed and not have to deal with anyone else.

\------------------------

Some minutes passed, Kankuro had been almost dozing off when heard one of the RA’s shout an all clear to the gathered students. He opened his eyes to see a fireman waving a silver takeout container, another fireman holding a blackened microwave. “We should not have to tell you not to microwave metal!” one fireman shouted, and before the firetruck started, Kankuro heard Naruto say “ah shit” before being shh-ed by the girl he was with. 

Kiba and Akamaru were also gone, and so was the blanket. Kankuro wasn’t a particularly sentimental person, but his little brother Gaara had made that blanket for him. A few years ago, after Gaara had been expelled for getting in a fight that had ended in broken bones, he had really tried to turn over a new leaf and had taken up knitting. It was a weird choice for him, but it had seemed to help. So this blanket was special. 

Kankuro looked at the crowd of students entering the dorm and saw no sign of Kiba or his dog. Naruto and the girl were still on the bench, leaning on each other, not looking like they were getting up any time soon. “Hey, Naruto” Kankuro approached, intending to ask where Kiba lived. 

“Oh shiiiit puppet-” he let out a disgusting hiccup that turned into a belch “-puppet guuuuuy!!!! Hinata it’s puppet guy!!!!” The girl, Hinata, looked confused at this declaration. 

“Yeah, Naruto, where does your friend with the dog live?” 

“Ooooooh why do you wanna know?!” Naruto slurred, before burping again. 

“He has my blanket. I just want to get it back” Kankuro sighed.

“Ooooh puppet guy needs his blaaaaankie” Naruto started another disgusting belch, which turned into him vomiting on the pavement in front of the bench, almost splashing Kankuro’s already peed on foot. 

Kankuro, disgusted, turned away and said “forget it”. This is what he should have expected from Naruto. He could deal with this tomorrow, hopefully Kiba wouldn’t use his blanket as a dog bed, but Kankuro didn’t have high hopes. Kankuro started to leave, but turned back to ask Hinata if she was ok. 

“Yeah, he gets sloppy, he’ll be fine” she patted Naruto on the back, “he just needs a minute, but thanks”. 

Kankuro stopped at the communal showers before heading back to his dorm. He didn’t want to grab all his shower supplies and lose the tiny amount of sleepiness he still had, so he used a handful of paper towels and handsoap to clean his feet and flip flop. Once in his room, he tidied up the things he had left out before falling asleep, and laid in bed. He dozed off thinking about how silly it was to grab a sweatshirt for your dog and not yourself. 

\------------------------

Once that guy, (puppet guy? Is that what Naruto called him?) had stopped talking to Kiba and closed his eyes, Kiba had walked with Akamaru around some of the nearby buildings. The little dog liked to sniff around, and they were already outside, so why not let him explore. They made their way over to a group of trees Akamaru was particularly fond of.

Normally, Kiba walked him on a leash because the campus rules required it, but he knew Akamaru would stay close. Unless of course, he was running off to pee on someone… That guy had been pretty chill about it, but he was kinda rude too. But Kiba was guessing he was grouchy from being woken up by a fire alarm, his hair had been messy and he was wrapped in a blanket. He had seemed to have judged Kiba for his lack of clothes. Kiba scoffed, he had been sleeping naked, everyone was lucky he was able to find shorts before going outside. His legs were pretty cold though.

Oh shit, the blanket. It was still wrapped around Kiba, his torso nice and warm. It smelled kinda like how he remembered his old high school woodshop smelling. He shrugged it closer around himself, and looked toward the dorm. The flashing lights of the fire truck were gone, and he didn’t see any other students outside. He would have to find the blanket’s owner tomorrow. It seemed handmade, it reminded Kiba of the blankets his grandma made. They were warm, and there was always a collection of them in his house growing up. It was nice. 

They eventually made it back to the dorm after some more sniffing around. Akamaru hopped into Kiba’s messy bed, and went right to his spot next to the pillow, curling up with a little huff. It seemed like Kiba’s roommate Shino looked like he was already asleep, he was lying in bed facing the wall. The only light in the room was the red lightbulb on his Shino’s insect cage. Kiba had told his mom that he wanted to go to this school for the lacrosse team, but it was really because of their lenient pet policy. Although when he had signed up for a pet friendly dorm room, he had expected his roommate to have something like a hamster, or another dog for Akamaru to play with. Not a guy who kept a cage full of bugs. But as long as they stayed in their cage Kiba was fine with it. And they did stay in there, except when Shino took them out to handle them. The guy was real weird, he had a huge dick though, Kiba had noticed it when he was changing in their room. They weren't friends, but he was an ok roommate, he put up with Kiba and Akamaru being rowdy and loud.

Kiba flopped into bed without much grace, the blanket still around his shoulders. It really was cozy. Akamaru must have sensed that and snuggled himself onto the blanket too. He gave Kiba a little lick on the nose, and soon the two were asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Kiba woke up to his alarm the next morning, he was chilly and didn’t feel well rested. He was still only in his shorts and Akamaru was still in his little jacket, next to the pillow in a nest of blankets. Kiba turned over and saw that his roommate’s bed was neatly made, Shino must have left for class already.

Akamaru had also woken up from the alarm, but only looked sleepily at Kiba before snuggling himself further into his little nest. Normally the boy and his dog were early risers- not that Kiba wanted to be. Lacrosse practice, classes, and Akamaru had him up early, if it was up to him he’d sleep till noon. Normally Akamaru started off the morning raring to go, ready to eat, and go outside and take on the day. Today he seemed to be in no rush, he must have been still sleepy and in no rush to go to the bathroom after the late night with the fire alarm.

It was a Wednesday, which meant Kiba didn’t have class until 4, and there was no practice either. He decided to take advantage of Akamaru’s uncharacteristic sleepiness and spend some more time in bed. Before he could fully relax, he groggily got out of bed and went and used the hall’s shared bathroom. When he was back in his room, Kiba rummaged around the mess of blankets and clothes at the end of his bed until he found some flannel pajama pants, he wrestled some of the blankets back from Akamaru and easily fell back to sleep. 

_______________ 

Kankuro had woken up early and showered. Remembering the dog pee incident of the previous night, he stripped the sheets off his bed to wash after class. He sat through a required math class, he tried to pay attention, but barely managed to. After class back in his room, he looked at his sheetless bed and, more than anything, just wanted to take a nap, the late night fire drill had left him sleepy and cranky. He gathered his sheets and some towels and got ready to walk over to the laundry room, and thought about his missing blanket - Gaara would kill him if he lost it. He grabbed his backpack and made a plan to look for Kiba’s room after his laundry was done.

Konoha university wasn't too large, but Kankuro’s dorm building was the largest on campus, so he walked for a few minutes until he got to the laundry room, which was next to a small lounge with some uncomfortable couches and a tv that didn’t get any good channels. 

He loaded his wash in the laundry room, most of the machines were empty this time of day. He set a timer on his phone for the cycle’s end, and brought his bag to the lounge. There was one other person there, her back to him while she watched TV. Kankuro settled on a worn couch in the back corner, and pulled out his laptop. He could feel how sleepy he was but wanted to try to get a little homework done. Hearing Kankuro settling into the room made the other person turn. It was the girl that was with Naruto last night, she looked just as tired as Kankuro and probably a little hungover too. But this was perfect, Kankuro thought, an opportunity to ask where Kiba lived, and just get his damn blanket back. And Naruto wasn’t here, so that was a plus.

“Oh hey, I met you last night, thanks for checking on us!” the girl said, as she turned on the couch so she was leaning over the backrest, her back to whatever crappy morning talk show that was on the lounge TV. Now facing Kankuro, he could see her hair was in a messy ponytail,and she was wearing pajamas. Kankuro didn’t realize people actually wore those cutesy button down pajama sets in real life. “I’m Hinata, I guess you know Naruto?” 

“Yeah, we were briefly roommates”, Kankuro didn’t really want to get into much detail about how gross he had thought Naruto was with this girl who was apparently his friend. 

“Oh, I bet that was a lot of fun” she scoffed, Kankuro relaxed a little at this. “I’m trying to do his laundry now, he threw up again after we got back in last night. I love him, but he’s a mess.”

Kankuro nodded, he wasn’t sure what else he could add to the conversation that could follow that up, so he pretended he needed to do some important tapping on the laptop’s keyboard in front of him. The girl didn’t seem to take the hint and asked him how his morning was going. 

“Uh… it’s fine” he said, continuing to mess around on his computer. He was absentmindedly clicking around his email account. “Yours?”

“It’s ok, I’m tired and hungover, we were having a nice night until the fire alarm.”

“Yeah, speaking of…” Kankuro found his moment to ask “your friend with the dog took my blanket, and I kinda need it back. Can you tell me where he lives?”

“Oh, Kiba! Yeah, he’s in this building, in room 405 I think?” she brightened at the mention of Kiba, “I love his dog!” 

“Thanks, yeah, I’ll stop by after my laundry,” Kankuro said, back to clicking around on his computer. Hinata went back to watching TV.

_______________

2 hours later, he was in front of room 405. It was 3 floors above his room, and on the other wing of the building, which is probably why Kankuro had never seen Kiba around. He lifted his hand to knock, and hesitated, feeling silly for being nervous. He knocked, probably too quietly, and got no response. He knocked again, trying to be a little louder, and the door creaked open a little, it was apparently unlocked and slightly ajar. 

Kankuro debated what the right thing to do was. He could just go in and get the blanket, but then Kiba would know he had been there? Unless he thought he got robbed for leaving the door unlocked? But why would the robber only take a random blanket? Should he take something else? 

He was definitely spiraling into a train of thought he didn’t need to follow. It was weird to be here with the door unlocked and it was probably better to come back another time. Then the door opened just the slightest and Kankuro heard snuffling near his feet. It was the dog again, pushing its nose through the crack in the door, trying to nudge it open. “Ah, shit. No! Shh! Go back inside!” Kankuro whispered as he tried to gently close the door without squishing the dog’s small muzzle. 

“Can I help you?” a dry voice behind him made Kankuro jump. He turned and saw a tall guy with sunglasses on, his arms crossed, and he looked expectantly at Kankuro.

“Sorry, I was looking for Kiba.”

The guy looked kind of annoyed, and moved past Kankuro to open the door, gently telling Akamaru to get back as he did. Kankuro looked past him and saw an evenly divided room, a neatly made bed and some kind of tank on one side, and on the other side… Kiba lay on his stomach in a messy bed. He had a mop of bed head, and Kankuro couldn’t help but notice his shirtless back was just about as muscular as his front. He also couldn’t help notice his blanket was wrapped around Kiba’s legs. 

“Kiba! Wake up, this guy is here to see you!” 

Kiba groaned in bed and rolled over to sit up. He blinked slowly at Kankuro, who was in the doorway staring at him. “Huh? Oh? Who are you?” he yawned as he asked. 

“Nevermind” this whole thing was too much for Kankuro already. He could come back later. He knew he had only talked to Kiba for a few moments the previous night, but he was surprised he felt a little hurt that he had forgotten him already. 

Kankuro turned and walked down the hall and heard the sunglasses guy say “nice job leaving the door open Kiba” as Kiba shouted “wait!”. Kankuro decided he would pretend not to hear, everything was getting more and more awkward, maybe Gaara could make him a new blanket. He reached the hall’s door to the stairwell and heard jingling behind him. The dog was there, still in the sweatshirt, jumping up on his legs, and woofing. Kankuro didn’t know much about dogs, his dad had always said he was allergic to animals. Kankuro and his siblings doubted that was true. This dog seemed friendly, but Kankuro wasn’t too sure, so he froze in place.

“He likes you!!!” There was Kiba, again he was shirtless. Akamaru looked at his owner and went from pawing Kankuro to pawing the door and whining . “Sorry! The blanket! I was half asleep when Shino opened the door, I didn’t realize-” he was cut off by Akamaru giving a sharp woof, and pawing the door harder. “Watch him for a second, he needs to go out, I’ll be right back” and Kiba jogged down the hall toward his room. 

Kankuro stood there, stuck in the situation. He couldn’t open the door, he didn’t want the dog to run away. “Don’t pee on me again” he said sternly to Akamaru, and got a tail wag in response.  
Some moments later Kiba was running down the hall toward him again, not holding the blanket, only a dog leash. “I guess you don’t like to wear shirts?” 

Kiba looked down, as if he was surprised to see he wasn’t wearing on. “Oh, I guess I don't,” he said as he looked Kankuro in the eye. Kakuro was even more frozen than when the dog jumped on him. “Let’s go!”, he clipped the leash onto the dog and started down the stairs with him. Kiba turned to Kankuro with a smile “you coming with us? I won’t let him pee on you this time”. 

Kankuro technically didn’t have anything to do, and he imagined it would just be weird if he had to come back to the room for the blanket later. Kiba was already a few feet ahead, saying something to his dog as they jogged down the stairs. He was a weird dude, but seemed friendly enough. Kankuro shrugged, and decided to follow along.


	3. Chapter 3

When he was at school, Kankuro was always worried about saying the right things, and holding conversation. When he was at home, things were different. He and his siblings, Gaara and Temari, could talk for hours or sit in silence. It never felt awkward. There were a couple of years that were hard for Gaara, and he had really distanced himself from the rest of his family. But now Gaara was a much different person, he had worked really hard on himself, and Kankuro was proud of him. The three siblings were close friends, and his brother and sister were the people Kankuro felt most comfortable with. 

Kankuro didn’t have to worry about holding conversation with Kiba though, because Kiba was holding most of the conversation himself. As the two of them walked outside with Akamaru, Kiba rambled on about sleeping in, and the fire alarm, and apologized again for being rude when Kankuro had come to the door. 

“Wait, how’d you know where I live anyway?” he asked Kankuro as they made their way down the stairs.. 

“Oh, I ran into your friend Hinata this morning, she let me know”. 

“Hinata! She’s the best!” Kiba smiled as he opened up the door out to the dorm’s lawn. Akamaru pulled on the leash, dragging Kiba over to the tree that Kankuro had been leaning on the night before. “Told you this was his favorite piss spot!”

Kankuro shook his head, this guy seemed to talk about dog pee a lot. 

Akamaru did his business and picked up a stick off the ground and brought it over to Kankuro. 

“He wants to play with you!!” Kiba said excitedly. He looked cold, but what did he expect being outside shirtless in October? “God, I’m freezing, I’ll be right back, have fun!” 

Before Kankuro could really protest, Kiba had handed him the leash and was jogging back inside the building. Kankuro stared at the little dog. Akamaru was wagging his tail, and nudging the stick toward Kankuro. Kankuro had the leash in one hand and wasn’t quite sure if he should let go or not. He didn’t know what the right thing to do was, so he took the stick and tossed it. Akamaru started to run toward it, so Kankuro just kind of jogged behind him while holding the leash. He didn’t know anything about dogs, but the Akamaru seemed to really be having a lot of fun. Kankuro kept doing the stick tossing then jogging across the lawn a couple times. Akamaru was making happy little arfs, and Kankuro could kind of see the appeal of dogs. He bent down to pet him and called him a good dog, and then picked up the stick again. Akamaru kept it up for the next couple minutes, barking at Kankuro if he stopped playing.

Kankuro didn’t want to admit it, but he was kind of having fun, but this seemed like it was going on a long time. He thought Kiba should be back by now. He looked toward the building and saw Kiba standing outside the door. He was wearing a hoodie with ‘Konaha Lacrosse’ written across the front of it, and was grinning at Kankuro.

_________________________

Kiba had stood outside the door watching Kankuro play with Akamaru for a minute or two. Kankuro didn’t notice when he came outside, but he seemed very focused on the task of playing fetch, he was doing it kinda weird too. However, Akamaru didn’t notice when he came outside either, which surprised Kiba. He and his dog were glued to each other, Akamaru must have really liked Kankuro to not run right to his owner. Akamaru was a friendly dog, sure, but it was extra cute to see him like someone new so much. Kankuro had seemed kinda gruff the night before, but if Akamaru cared about him so much already, Kiba knew he couldn’t be that bad.  
“He likes you!” 

Kankuro had stopped as soon as he saw Kiba outside the building. He was blushing, which Kiba thought was kind of cute. Kankuro dropped the stick he was holding and ran a hand through his hair. He held the leash out to Kiba when he walked over. “I guess so, he seems like a cool dog”.

“I’m gonna walk him, you want to come with us?” Kiba asked. He wasn’t quite sure why he did it. Kankuro was basically a stranger, and didn’t seem to particularly like Kiba anyway. But he was surprised when Kankuro agreed.

They walked around campus for a little, it was awkwardly quiet at first, so Kiba started just talking about anything. He knew he did that when he was nervous, but sometimes it worked. He pointed out some random things, like the tree Akamaru had seen a raccoon in once and always had to check it out. Like it was on command, Akamaru put his front paws up on the tree and sniffed wildly while looking in the branches. Kankuro smiled at that, and gave Akamaru a little pat on the head. Kiba told Kankuro about the upcoming away game they had at a nearby college that coming weekend. He was nervous about it, but thought they were going to do ok. 

Kankuro wasn’t saying much, just some polite “oh, yeah?” and “mmhmm” and “huh” interjections and Kiba was getting more nervous about the silence so he tried to fill it in with more talking. He knew he did this when he got nervous, and it was making him extra nervous that he was doing it, and he didn’t know why Kankuro was making him so nervous to begin with. 

“So…what’s your major?” he asked Kankuro, hoping to get him to talk more. They were headed down a walkway, away from some of the dorms toward the library. He wasn’t sure when they should turn around and head back toward their building.

“Oh, uh… it’s puppetry. It’s a concentration in the theatre program. I make puppets for theater performances”

“Wow! That’s pretty cool, so I guess you do a lot of plays and stuff?” Kiba knew nothing about puppets, and just pictured the little guy on the tricycle in the Saw movies.

“I don’t do much on stage, it’s mostly a lot of building-” 

He was interrupted by someone stepping between them, putting an arm on each of their shoulders. “You two, AGAIN? I wasn’t sure if I remembered it right from last night! I didn’t know you two were friends. The puppy guy and the puppet guy, huh?”

“Hi Naruto” Kiba said “Kankuro’s a friend of Akamaru’s”. He was trying to make a joke, but when he looked at Kankuro, the other guy looked very uncomfortable and was trying to move out from under Naruto’s shoulder.

“I’m surprised you remember anything with how drunk you were,” Kankuro said, as he stepped away from Naruto. “I’ll see you later” he said to Kiba and turned back toward the direction they had come from. 

Akamaru tugged toward Kankuro as he walked away, but Naruto reached down and scooped the dog in his arms. “Hey Buddy!” He was trying to pet Akamaru while holding him, but he was struggling in his arms. Kiba reached forward and took his dog from Naruto’s and put him back on the pavement. “Aw, I thought he liked me” Naruto said, making an exaggerated sad face. “You ready for the game this weekend?” 

“It seems like you make him pretty uncomfortable,” he said to Naruto, nodding toward Kankuro as he walked away.

“He’s a crabby weirdo dude, I was surprised to see you guys hanging out. He just makes weird puppets and doesn't like to have any fun” 

“Naruto, your idea of fun can be a little much sometimes, even for me. He doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Yeah, but you live with Shino, you must be immune to crabby weirdos by now”

“Shino’s not that bad either”

Naruto just laughed at this. “If you say so. I’m going to the library to print stuff out, you want to come?” 

“Nah, I’ll pass” Kiba said, looking toward Kankuro again. Naruto just laughed again.

_________

Kankuro had decided not to go right back to the dorm and stop at the dining hall instead. Naruto was just so damn rude, it frustrated him. Kiba actually didn’t seem that bad, and neither did Akamaru. Kiba didn’t seem to know how to shut up for a second, but Kankuro thought he was kinda funny and nice. He liked Akamaru a lot too, which was fun, Kankuro didn’t know a ton of dogs, and it was cute to walk him around.

He was packing a takeout container with some pasta and chicken when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It was a snapchat from Jugo, a selfie of him with his cockatiel on his shoulder. Gaara had met Jugo at some troubled teen class he had to take, and they had stayed friends since then. When he was home, Kankuro hung out with his siblings a lot, so he and Jugo had become friends over the years. They were different in a lot of ways, but they got along well.  
Another snapchat notification from Jugo came through, this one was a selfie of Jugo and his boyfriend Kimimaro. There was text across the screen that said “miss you!”

Kankuro finished getting his food, and headed back outside to walk back to the dorm. He opened his phone to send a selfie back, and saw how messy his hair was. He was a little embarrassed that he had been walking around with Kiba like that and tried to smooth it down as best he could. He snapped back a quick photo with the message “miss you too!”. 

He knew winter break was two months away, but he was looking forward to seeing his siblings and friends again. Seeing the picture had made him homesick. He was a few hours drive away and didn’t have a car, so he didn’t go home as often as he wanted to. Temari was the only one of the siblings that did have a car, so he had to rely on her to pick him up and drop him off. It was some kind of little fast car with only two doors, Kankuro barely fit in it, but knew it wasn’t something he could really be picky about. 

Once he was back at his dorm, he cleared some paint and wood pieces off his desk to eat. He texted Temari, asking if she wanted to hang out the upcoming weekend. He felt kind of guilty when he did it. He knew it was a lot of driving for her, and it was a last minute thing. A few minutes later she got a reply of ‘YES! (and then a bunch of different smiley emojis) Gaara said he’s busy, but Shikamaru can come if that’s cool’. ‘Definitely’ replied Kankuro. Shikamaru was Temari’s boyfriend, and was an easy guy to be around. Kankuro got along well with him and really didn’t mind the thought of him visiting as well. He finished his lunch, excited for the weekend ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't realize until now that Lacrosse is a spring sport, consider this a "Lacrosse as a fall sport AU".


	4. Chapter 4

Kiba was frantic. It was Friday night, he had his lacrosse stuff packed and sitting on his bed, and Hinata and Naruto were waiting in her car. They had a big game against Amegakure University the next day. The team was staying overnight, and Hinata had offered to drive Naruto and Kiba since she was going to see the game. 

The problem was Akamaru. He wasn’t allowed in the team’s hotel rooms, and Kiba wouldn’t have time to take care of him during the day. Shino was supposed to watch him, but had gone home because of a family emergency, so Kiba was screwed. Normally he would ask Shino and Hinata but couldn’t. He knew coach Hidan would be pissed if they weren’t on time, he had all kinds of pregame rituals he liked the team to do. 

“What am I gonna do with you?” he asked his dog. Akamaru was napping on the bed next to Kiba’s bags. Kiba looked at the blanket Akamaru was laying on and had an idea. “Do you want to go hang out with your fetch buddy?” Akamaru sat up and started wagging his tail, Kiba figured it was probably because he had said “fetch”, but still took it as a good sign. 

He started shoving Akamaru’s stuff into a spare duffle bag. A bag of food, treats, some toys, his bowls, he was just grabbing things and stuffing them in there. He started to grab Kankuro’s blanket from under Akamaru and saw that it was covered in dog hair. Most of Kiba’s stuff was covered in dog hair, but he thought maybe he should clean it off before returning it- but that could wait for later.

A text came through from Hinata that said ‘‘you almost ready?’. 

Kiba sent back a quick ‘5 more mins!!!’ He grabbed Akamaru and the bags and went out into the hall. Then he realized he had no idea where Kankuro lived. 

He ran to Yamato’s room and started pounding on the door. RA’s knew this kind of stuff, right? It was their job to keep tabs on everyone. He barely opened the door before Kiba started asking him questions “Yams! Do you know Kankuro’s room number?!” Akamaru was excited to see a friend and started pushing open the door. Kakashi was sitting in the room, and Akamaru ran in and hopped into his lap. 

“Kiba, can you not just bust in here? I don’t even know who Kankuro is.”

“The puppet guy” chimed in Kakashi, who was scratching Akamaru behind the ears.

“Oh, him, he’s somewhere in the 110’s I think?”

“Thank you!” Kiba whistled for Akamaru and they headed a few floors down.

_______________________

Temari and Shikamaru had surprised Kankuro by coming a day early, but he didn’t mind. There was some party Temari wanted to go to Saturday night, she somehow knew people everywhere. 

His sister had known he would be grumpy about the party, so she had come a day early. She wanted them to have a quiet evening to hang out too, Kankuro appreciated that she knew that parties weren’t his thing. But he knew it wasn’t worth protesting, since Temari would drag him there no matter what. She was always trying to get him to go to parties and hang out with more people and go on dates. Kankuro wasn’t really opposed to any of those things, but they just felt kind of overwhelming sometimes. 

Temari was sitting on his bed, trying to get Kankuro to download Tinder. Shikamaru was rolling a joint on the desk. Kankuro was sitting on the floor next to the bed, working on painting a piece of wood.

There was a knock and the door, and Kankuro jumped up, motioning to Shikamaru to clean up the weed. He wasn’t expecting anyone, what if the RA had heard them somehow? He was worried about having the weed in his room, but Shikamaru was already on it. He chuckled at Kankuro’s panic, and calmly moved everything into a drawer. 

“Temari!” Kankuro hissed. His sister apparently didn’t care about Kankuro getting expelled and was opening the door of his room. 

“Oh, sorry, I think I have the wrong room. Do you know where Kankuro lives?” 

“Nope, you’ve got the right room” Temari swung the door open and pointed to her brother. 

It was Kiba. How the hell did he know where Kankuro lived, and what was he doing here? Kiba was flushed and breathing heavily like he had been running. He started dropping bags on the floor outside of the doorway. Akamaru was there too, wagging his tail and panting. 

“Hey! Umm.. well… can you watch Akamaru until tomorrow? I have a game and Shino was supposed to and-” Kiba was rambling through everything he was trying to say. His phone started ringing and he rummaged in his pockets to find it. 

“Sure!” Temari answered, before Kankuro had a chance to say anything.

“Temari!” Kankuro said, right as Kiba said “Thanks!” and answered his phone.

“I know, I’m so sorry, I’ll be right there,” Kiba said into his phone. Akamaru had run into the room and was hopping up on Kankuro, like they were best friends. Shikamaru bent down to pet him, already starting to baby talk to the dog. Kiba hung up, and said “are you sure?” to Kankuro. 

“Yes” said Temari and Shikamaru in unison, as Kankuro said “I don’t even know how to take care of him”.

“I’m sorry, I gotta go, can I text you instructions? What’s your number?” Kiba asked as he scrambled with his phone again. 

Temari recited Kankuro’s phone number to Kiba as she leaned against the door frame. Kakuro figured he might as well stop trying to talk at this point, he didn’t think Temari would let him get a word in.

“Thank you so much, I really gotta go. I appreciate it!” Kankuro saw Temari grinning as Kiba walked right into his room and crouched down to Akamaru “You be a good boy!” He kissed the dog on the head and placed a worn duffle bag on the floor. “Thank you so much!” he said to Kankuro and jogged out the doorway almost as quickly as he had come in. 

“Good luck at your game!” Temari shouted down the hallway. 

Kankuro felt like a hurricane had blown through his room.

“Why did you do that?!” Kankuro looked between Temari and Shikamaru. Temari grinned as she closed the door. Shikamaru didn’t even notice Kankuro looking at him, he had moved onto the floor and Akamaru was licking his face. 

“I dunno” she shrugged “I thought he was cute.” 

“I guess, I don’t know anything about dogs” Kankuro muttered as he started to rummage through the bag of dog stuff.

“Not the dog, dummy” Temari punched him on the shoulder “the guy!”

Kankuro blushed and just focused on looking through the bag some more, pulling out some bowls and treats. He hadn’t signed up for this. 

_________________________

“Kiba! I asked what you wanted to listen to!” Kiba was in the backseat of Hinata’s car, he hadn’t even heard what Naruto had said the first time. 

“Oh, it doesn’t matter” he answered just as Naruto started playing some loud EDM music. 

Kiba was lost in thought. He was worried for a moment that he had left Akamaru with strangers, but Kankuro seemed like a really good person, and Akamaru liked him a lot. Plus Kiba didn’t have many other options. He thought about the other two people he had seen in Kankuro’s room, he didn’t recognize them from around campus. The girl who answered the door was wearing a leather jacket that Kiba had thought was really cool, he wanted to ask her where it was from if he saw her again. He wondered if she was Kankuro’s girlfriend, and kind of hoped she wasn’t, but wasn’t quite sure why that mattered to him. 

The guy in there had seemed really cool too, he had really kind of smelled like weed when Kiba had gone near him. He hoped Akamaru didn’t get into anything. 

He texted the number he had been given for Kankuro. ‘hey! thx again’ he typed out, and immediately erased it. ‘hi kankuro! it’s kiba’ he tried, but that seemed kind of formal. He settled on ‘hey, it’s kiba!’ followed by the dog emoji. 

He stared at his phone, and waited for a reply. He saw a speech bubble pop up, as Kankuro was typing. A message came through, it was a picture of the girl with the leather jacket holding Akamaru. He looked really happy, and Kiba sighed in relief. ‘He loves my sister already’ read the next text from Kankuro. Oh, his sister. Kiba smiled and felt a little goofy for being happy that it wasn’t his girlfriend or something. 

“WHAT ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT? WHO ARE YOU TEXTING?” Naruto was turned around in the front seat, shouting over the music at Kiba.

“Hana” Kiba lied, he didn’t want to deal with Naruto being weird or rude. If he thought he was texting his sister, he wouldn’t really be able to tease Kiba about it. It worked, and Naruto went back to dancing in the front seat. 

He sent Kankuro a few more messages, some details about how much to feed Akamaru and when he needed to go out. ‘u already know his favorite piss spot lol’ he texted with a laughing emoji.

Kankuro replied with ‘:P’ and a picture of Akamaru playing with a toy. Kiba smiled, Akamaru was in good hands.

_____________________________

Temari and Shikamaru were saying goodbye to Kankuro, they had rented a hotel for the night. Kankuro didn’t quite think it was fair that they had agreed to watch Akamaru and weren’t even the ones who really had to take care of him. But, Kankuro had to admit it, Akamaru was behaving.

The three of them had spent the evening taking him for a walk around campus, and then watched a crappy movie in the dorm’s lounge room. Kankuro wasn’t really sure if dogs were allowed in there, but Akamaru had fallen asleep in his lap and had been really cute and quiet, so he figured it would be ok. 

Temari had tried to grill him about Kiba but there wasn’t much to say. He mistakenly said that this was the first time he had seen Kiba with a shirt on. Temari made fun of him for it for an hour, even though he tried to explain that he was making fun of him for being a jock. He did say that Kiba seemed really nice and funny, but he didn’t know him well. 

“We’ll bring you back hotel breakfast” Shikamaru promised as he and Temari were leaving for the night.

“Uh, I’m ok” Kankuro said. 

“I was talking to him” Shikamaru pointed at Akamaru, who gave a little woof like he knew what was going on. 

They made plans to meet up the next day. Kankuro took Akamaru out one more time before bed, and tried to get him settled in the little bed Kiba had brought along. He sent Kiba a photo of Akamaru in the dog bed, and then got worried he was texting him too late at night, he started a text to apologize, but decided not to send any more. 

Kankuro got into his pajamas, turned off the lights, and got into bed. As soon as he did he felt Akamaru jump into his bed. “No” he tried to sound stern as he pointed to the dog bed. Akamaru gave him a very sad look and jumped back into the dog bed. As soon as Kankuro got comfortable again, Akamaru was on the bed, trying to lick his face. Kankuro tried two more times to get him to sleep in the dog bed, but realized he probably just had to give in. He fell asleep with Akamaru curled up next to his pillow. Kankuro had to admit, it was kinda cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @Woofgang69 for being the best and reading all of this <3
> 
> Also it won't come up, but I 100% need everyone to know that Temari won her jacket from a hot biker in a pool game. (That hot biker was Hana)


	5. Chapter 5

It was weird to wake up without Akamaru in his face. The hotel the team got wasn’t fancy, but the bed was still nicer than a dorm, so he had slept well. Naruto was snoring in the room's other bed, Kiba usually ended up rooming with him for away games like this. Hinata technically wasn’t allowed to stay with them in the hotel, but Coach Hidan really didn’t care what any of the team did as long as they won their games, so they had snuck her in.

Kiba rolled over to grab his phone. There was a text from Kankuro, a photo of Akamaru in his dog bed. Kiba was kind of surprised, it wasn’t like Akamaru to sleep in his dog bed and not Kiba’s. But that made sense, he was in a new place. ‘how’d he do?’ he texted Kankuro. He quickly followed it with another text that said ‘good morning’ so he didn’t seem rude. He was worried he was texting too early, but got a pretty quick reply that said ‘Good, didn’t like his bed though’. A photo came through. It was a selfie of Kankuro in bed, Akamaru lying stretched out next to his pillow. 

Kiba saved it, telling himself it was because it was a cute picture of Akamaru, and not because Kankuro with bedhead also looked cute and sleepy. He went back and saved all the other pictures of Akamaru that had been sent, just to prove the point to himself. 

He got out of bed and waved to Hinata, who was in the other bed also awake on her phone. Naruto was lying across the bed on top of the covers. As weird and crass as he could be, he always wore the pajama sets that Hinata gave him for christmas. The couple had brought matching sets to wear with them, it was adorable. It was a good reminder to Kiba that although Naruto could be too much sometimes, he really was a good person. 

Kiba was nervous about the game today. Amegakure was a hard team to play against. They didn’t have a girl’s team, so there was one girl who played for them. Kiba didn’t care about playing against a girl, she just scared the crap out of him because she was their best player. The rest of the team were all super into team spirit, and would dye all their hair orange to match their jersey colors. Konaha U had team spirit, but not like these guys. 

Naruto eventually woke up from coach Hidan pounding on their door. Hinata headed out early, and the boys got ready to go to the game. Kiba checked his phone one last time before stuffing it in his bag and saw another text from Kankuro that said “Good luck with the game!” and one more picture of Akamaru outside on a walk, looking happy. Kiba smiled.

“Who are you texting!?” Naruto exclaimed, trying to grab Kiba’s phone. Kiba smacked him away with his lacrosse stick, and they headed out to the game.

______________________

Kankuro had felt kind of bad that Temari and Shikamaru had come all this way to visit him, but they couldn’t really go out anywhere because of Akamaru. Kankuro figured he could leave him alone in his room while he went somewhere, but felt too guilty to do it. It turned out that he didn’t need to feel guilty at all. Temari and Shikamaru showed up late Saturday morning, and greeted Akamaru before they even said hi to Kankuro. Shikamaru had really brought some hotel breakfast for him, a little container with a piece of pancake and some eggs. 

They played around for a little, trying to see what tricks Akamaru knew in exchange for treats. It turned out he knew a lot, but would get too excited and try to do them all at once. Shikamaru and Temari asked if they could all go for a walk again, so they wandered around campus. Kankuro pointed out the tree Kiba had told him about the other day, and again, Akamaru went right to it, scanning the trees for the raccoon. 

After an hour or so of hanging out with Akamaru, they were back in the dorm. Temari teased Kankuro for only ever eating in the dining hall, and Shikamaru looked up places to order takeout.  
Kankuro left his room to go to the bathroom, leaving the two of them to argue about whether to get ramen or pizza. 

When he got back to his room just a few minutes later, he caught Temari with his phone in her hand. “What are you doing” he sighed, holding out his hand for his phone.

Temari didn’t even try to pretend she hadn’t been messing with it. “Well, your phone went off, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't an emergency” he rolled his eyes at this “so I looked and saw a text from Kiba. I didn’t want him to worry, so I let him know Akamaru was good. He’ll be back in a few hours.” 

“That’s it?” asked Kankuro, he had expected she had made him a Tinder profile or something. 

“And I asked him if he wanted to come to the party.” 

“Temari.”

“I wanted to get to know him and he seems fun. Besides he didn’t even answer yet so maybe he’ll say no…”

Kankuro hadn’t even considered that, he wasn’t sure why he had assumed Kiba would agree to go, but suddenly was worried he wouldn’t want to.

“Oh! I saw that, you looked disappointed when I said he might say no!”

“Temari, I did not.”

Shikamaru scoffed and chuckled. “You did.”

Kankuro’s phone buzzed in his hand. He looked down to see a text that said ‘yeah! that sounds fun’. Kankuro must have smiled because Temari said “guess he said yes”. 

_________________

It was about a 2 hour drive home after the game. Naruto moped the whole way. He hated losing, he always said he felt like he had let the team down. Kiba was bummed, but distracted by his phone. He had sent a text that said ‘we lost :(‘ and one more that said ‘be back around 6’.

He got three texts in quick succession ‘sorry you lost :(‘ then a picture of Akamaru in Kankuro’s bed chewing a plastic bone, and then another text that said ‘we r going to a party tonight, wanna come?” 

Kiba was surprised that Kankuro was inviting him to a party, but figured it could be fun. He agreed and tried to nap the rest of the way home, but between Naruto’s whining and his excitement, he didn’t get much rest.

__________________

Temari was standing in front of Kankuro’s closet. The party wasn’t until later but she said she wanted to make sure he had something to wear. Shikamaru was out walking Akamaru. The little dog was going on way more walks than Kiba had said he needed in his instructions, but he was always raring to go as soon as they saw his leash. 

Temari threw some clothes on Kankuro’s bed as she sorted through everything. Most of his clothes were black, simple, and plain. Temari had packed herself a black dress, fishnets, and boots for the party. She had her leather jacket too, she looked cool, but she always did. Kankuro trusted her to pick something he’d look good in, everyone knew the only reason Shikamaru dressed so well was because Temari picked out his clothes. 

Temari often bought Kankuro clothes for Christmas, but he usually didn’t end up wearing them because they were out of his comfort zone. Temari found some of the items she had bought, and tossed them at him. There were some black pants with tears across the knees that Kankuro swore were too small but Temari had said were supposed to be tight. She also threw a random white tshirt and a flannel. 

“Try those on, I’m gonna go do my makeup” she grabbed a small bag and left for the bathroom. 

Kankuro tried the clothes on and looked in the mirror on the front of his closet. The pants were tighter than his normal clothes, but he guessed it didn’t look bad. Maybe the flannel shirt worked because he was kind of built like a lumberjack? He was strong, from doing a lot of lifting and building, and he was chubby.  
He could even admit he looked kinda cool in these weird pants, even though he thought pre-ripped clothes were a little silly. Plus he knew being with Termai and a Shikamaru would make him look cool by association. 

His door opened, Shikamaru walked in with Akamaru.

“Looks good man!”Shikamaru said. Akamaru woofed in agreement and jumped right onto Kankuro's bed. 

Temari walked in next, she had dark makeup around her eyes and dark red lipstick on. Shikamaru wolf whistled when she entered, and she grinned.

“Kankuro, that looks good!!!”

“I guess, thank you.” he replied. He looked in the mirror again, he did look pretty good. Maybe he should wear the clothes Temari got him more often. “Who’s party is this anyway?"

“Suigetsu’s, he’s one of Jugo’s friends from high school.”

“How do you know him then?”

“I just told you.”

Temari sat Shikamaru down in the desk chair and started rubbing some black makeup under his eyes. Of course it looked cool because Shikamaru usually just looked cool in general. He had a confidence that Kankuro wished he had. Shikamaru was smart as hell, but he was also kind and relaxed. Kankuro was happy that his sister had found someone so perfect for her. Temari finished her boyfriend’s makeup and kissed his cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark.

She headed toward Kankuro with brushes and compacts in hand. “I do not need makeup” he said, and stuck out his hand to block her. She batted his hand away and Kankuro gave up fighting instantly. She would just argue that it would look good. And Kankuro knew she was right, she could make anybody look cool. 

“I won’t do too much” she promised. She rubbed some stuff on his eyes for a few seconds and handed him a small compact mirror so he could see himself. It didn’t look bad, there was a little dark purple eyeshadow on his top lid, and some smudged black under his eyes. She had kept it pretty minimal, Kankuro was fairly certain she wanted to do more, but knew he would wash it off if she did. 

“Is this a Halloween party?” 

“No, just a party. His Halloween party is in 2 weeks, you should go though. I think Gaara is.” 

Akamaru suddenly hopped up in bed and started wagging his tail. He spun around a few times and looked excitedly between the three of them and barked. He ran to the door and barked before there was even a knock.

Kankuro looked at Temari, but she just gave him a shove toward the door. He opened it to find Kiba standing there, looking tired in a sweatshirt and joggers. Kiba squatted down as soon as he saw Akamaru, who licked his face and wagged excitedly. “Were you a good boy? Yeah? Did you have fun?” He stood back up with a wriggling and ecstatic Akamaru in his arms.

“Thank you again, so much!” Kiba said to the three of them.

“It wasn’t a problem, he was really good!”

Kankuro invited Kiba in while he started gathering Akamaru’s things back into the bag. The room was cramped with the four of them in there, and Kankuro started noticing things that he was getting self conscious of. His clothes were all over from Temari going through them, and there were a bunch of art supplies messily around his desk. His room was usually organized, but having extra people and a dog in there had made it messier than normal. 

Kiba didn’t seem to notice any mess and was too busy petting Akamaru. “So, a party? Thanks for inviting me, Kankuro. Where is it? Do I dress up? You guys look pretty cool.”

“We can drive you!” Temari said quickly “if you want to meet us back here. And nah, just wear whatever. I’m Temari, by the way, Kankuro’s sister. This is Shikamaru, my boyfriend.” Shikamaru stood up and shook Kiba’s hand, a gesture that Kankuro thought was weirdly formal, but Kiba didn’t seem to mind it.

Kankuro hoped it didn’t freak Kiba out that Temari was being so intense, but he didn’t seem phased. They made plans to meet back at Kankuro’s room around 8, and Kiba and Akamaru headed out. Temari said “you’re welcome” once the door was closed, and Kankuro shook his head at her, but still said “thanks”. 

__________________________________

Kiba got back to his room, it didn’t look like Shino was back yet. Akamaru sniffed around, making sure things were just as he had left them. Kiba unpacked his and Akamaru’s bags and headed to the hall’s showers. He had showered after the game in the locker room, but wanted to make sure he wasn’t still sweaty or anything. While he washed his hair he thought about the upcoming night. 

Kiba liked most people he met. He considered himself easygoing and an extrovert, and was happy to meet new people. He didn’t usually do things like take an extra shower, or feel so nervous before a party. Temari and Shikmaru seemed really cool and intimidating, but they had been so nice. 

Kankuro looked different tonight than when Kiba had seen him before, he was dressed cooler and looked like he had some makeup on. He looked really nice. Kiba knew he crushed on people easily, but they weren’t usually people like Kankuro. They were usually jocks, if he was being honest. 

Kiba had only known Kankuro for a few days, but there was something he liked about him. He was kind of gruff, but he kept doing things that were really sweet, mostly concerning Akamaru. Kiba knew that was an easy way for him to like someone. His dog was his best friend, and it meant a lot to Kiba when people cared about Akamaru too. Kankuro didn’t seem like he knew anything about dogs, but it was clear he was trying. Plus Kiba liked that he was mysterious, he felt goofy calling the other guy that, but he was. He didn’t seem very forthcoming about himself, and it made Kiba want to know more. 

After his shower, he tried to make his hair do something normal, but it was messy as usual, and just got messier the more he tried to fix it, so he put on a beanie. He had a hard time deciding what to wear, Temari had told him to wear whatever, but that felt like a challenge to Kiba, he wanted to look cool too. He put on some dark jeans, and cuffed them at the ankle. He put on a polo shirt, but decided he looked like a nerd. Then he switched to a plain black hoodie, but realized it was covered in dog hair. He changed one last time to a plain light grey hoodie, and decided that would have to work. 

He took Akamaru out and fed him dinner, and tried to keep himself busy. He had almost an hour until it was time to go, and the waiting was making him a little anxious. He put away some clean laundry that had been sitting there a while, and tried to do some reading for class. He killed time for a half hour, and decided he was going to go crazy waiting in his room. He pulled up Akamaru’s favorite “TV for Dogs” video on Youtube, told him to be a good boy, and headed out.

Kiba went into the bathroom to take off the beanie and try to mess with his hair some more, but he kept making it worse. He gave up on that and checked his phone. It was 7:35, he needed to be there at 8. He knew he only needed to walk down three floors, but figured he could take his time and it wouldn’t hurt to be a little early. 

Kiba stopped at Naruto’s room on the way, and knocked on the door. He was going to tell Naruto that he did well at the game, just in case he was still feeling down. But Naruto’s roommate Sasuke answered, he was grumpy as usual and just told Kiba that Naruto wasn’t there before closing the door. So much for killing time that way.

He headed down the stairs to Kankuro’s hall and made it there by 7:42. It was still way too early. What was he doing there that early, he looked like a weirdo. He was about to turn around and head back up the stairs, when Temari turned into the hall. 

“Hey Kiba” she smiled and waved. 

“Oh, hey, Temari, right?” he felt silly that he had missed his chance to run and now she knew he was just creeping around the hallway. But if she thought it was weird, she didn’t show any signs of it. 

“Yep, I was just cleaning out my car, making room for you guys. You excited for the party?”

“I am, yeah. Thanks for driving me!” 

“Not a problem, I’m excited you’re coming with us.” She started walking down the hallway to Kankuro’s room, and Kiba didn’t really have any choice but to follow. “So how do you know my brother?”

“I really just met him a couple days ago, he lent me a blanket during a fire drill.”

“Classic meet cute” said Temari, and winked at Kiba. Kiba felt his cheeks flush. They arrived at the room and Kiba took his beanie off and tried to fix his hair again. “Don’t worry, you look good” Temari said. Kiba just blushed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops, this whole thing has turned into a love letter to Temari and Shikamaru, and a story about how great it is to have a dog. <3
> 
> behind the scenes lore: Shikamaru is trying to shake Kiba's hand really hard in a "I'm tough, don't hurt Kankuro's feelings or there'll be trouble" kind of way, but Kiba doesn't realize the nuance and shakes back equally as hard because he's a jock.


	6. Chapter 6

Kankuro hated sitting in Temari’s backseat. Her old Firebird was made for going fast, not transporting passengers. Kankuro was the tallest out of all of them, so he thought it was common courtesy that he sit in the front seat. But Shikamaru had called shotgun as soon as they approached the car. 

Kankuro had just ungracefully stuffed himself behind the passenger seat, crawling into a two door car was annoying. Kiba was climbing in from the driver’s side door as Kankuro tried to buckle himself in. 

“Sorry” Kiba said, as he got right into Kankuro’s face as he sat himself down. Kankuro just pretended to be very focused on his seatbelt. Kiba squished down next to him, and started helping Kankuro buckle himself in before buckling his own seatbelt. They messed around with the buckles for a few seconds, trying to get out of each other’s way. 

Temari and Shikamaru got settled in, and music blasted through the car as soon as she turned it on. It was some kind of angry sounding punk rock, and Kankuro hated that his head was right next to the speaker “TURN IT DOWN TEM” he shouted over the music. She stuck her tongue out at him, and turned it down, but not enough that it made much difference.

Kankuro appreciated that the loud music meant he didn’t need to try to make conversation. He was squished next to Kiba, and Kankuro felt warm in all the places they were touching. “Sorry!” Kiba shouted over the music. He was trying to scoot himself to the side so he could get something out of his back pocket. He had to lean toward Kankuro to do it, and Kankuro got a whiff of shampoo. Kiba smelled clean and minty as he squished himself against Kankuro even more. Maybe there was one good thing about being stuck in the tiny backseat Kankuro thought. 

Kiba pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing. Kankuro felt his phone buzz a few seconds later, and Kiba nudged him. Kankuro’s phone was in his jacket pocket, so he didn’t have to lean over Kiba in the same way, which made him relieved and disappointed at the same time. 

He checked his phone and saw a text from Kiba. ‘hi’ He looked at Kiba and was met with a smile. Kankuro smiled back, Kiba was really cute. Kiba started typing on his phone some more, and Kankuro felt his buzz moments later. ‘whos party r we going to’ 

Kankuro sent back a little emoji of a guy shrugging ‘¯\\_(ツ)_/¯’

“What! How did you do that!” Kiba shouted in his ear “That’s cool!”

Kankuro turned his phone screen toward Kiba, and prayed nothing embarrassing came up on his screen. He googled ‘shrug emoji’ and copy and pasted it into his text app. Kiba looked amazed, like Kankuro had done something really impressive. 

Kiba messed with his phone for a second and then turned it to Kankuro, showing that he had pasted the emoji too. “This is so cute!” Kiba shouted. Kankuro looked at Kiba’s phone, there was a big crack across the screen. But that didn’t stop him from noticing that there was a photo of him next to where it said “kank” at the top of the screen. He pointed to it before he thought better of it, and looked quizzically at Kiba. 

Kiba immediately blushed and turned his phone away and started typing. His phone buzzed ‘it was the pic u sent earlier with akamaru i thought it was cute’ Kiba nudged his side and turned his phone for Kankuro to look at. It was the photo Kankuro had sent that morning of Akamaru in his bed. He had mostly been trying to take a picture of the dog, and now that he looked at himself in the photo he thought he looked a little weird. He had morning stubble and looked sleepy. 

Kiba turned his phone away and started typing. Kankuro was embarrassed that he had pointed out the photo and worried he made things awkward. His phone buzzed again and it was a text from Kiba of a picture of himself and Akamaru and a message that said ‘so u can put a contact photo of me’

Kiba looked cute in the photo. It was a selfie of him and Akamaru, outside in the sunshine. They both looked happy. Kiba was wearing his lacrosse uniform, and Kankuro thought about the fact that he had mostly been seeing Kiba with a shirt on. He hoped that something could come up again where he didn’t.

The whole trip took about 20 minutes and Kankuro and Kiba spent the rest of the time taking turns showing each other memes on their phones. They nudged each other and laughed, and Kankuro caught Temari smiling at him in the rearview mirror. He smiled back at her, he knew she would love it. Kankuro consciously decided he was going to do his best to lean into this night and have a good time. He was going to a party, he thought he looked good, he was with two of his best friends… and he was also squished in a tiny backseat with a guy he was beginning to admit he had a crush on. 

He normally was a nervous person, considering all the what-ifs of a situation, and worrying about how he was being perceived. But he wanted to try his hardest to be chill and have a good night. He took a deep breath and pressed his leg a little closer to Kiba’s then it actually needed to be, and showed him a goofy meme of Waluigi. 

___________________________

Kiba had felt a little nervous about hanging out with people that he really didn’t know. But he was squished in the backseat with Kankuro, and they were laughing with each other. Kankuro’s taste in memes was just as weird as Kiba’s, and Kiba took that as a good sign. He felt pretty dumb about Kankuro catching him with the photo, but hoped he thought it was flattering. 

He noticed Kankuro had scooted closer on the drive over, and decided to scoot over a little more too. At one point he saw Temari smile at him in the rearview mirror and he smiled back. The three of them were really cool and nice, and he felt so happy there in the car with them. He nudged Kankuro’s side to show him a picture of a piece of pizza that said “PEESUH PEEZAH” and loved that the dumb picture made Kankuro laugh.

He pressed his leg a little more into Kankuro’s and felt butterflies in his stomach. Kiba had dated pretty regularly in school, as much as his lacrosse schedule allowed for. The guys and girls he dated were fine, and he had fun dates and hookups with them. None of it turned into a real relationship, but he didn’t really mind. The butterflies he was getting from Kankuro felt a little different. There was something really innocent about this, he hadn’t had a crush like this a while. He just wanted to hold his hand or something. He knew he barely knew him, but he felt like he really wanted to get to know all the little stuff about him, like his favorite movie or how he took his coffee. 

The car turned off, and Kiba looked toward the front of the car. They were parked on a crowded small street, Temari must have been a parallel parking expert, because he hadn’t even noticed them getting into the spot. Kiba was impressed. 

Shikamaru pulled a joint from somewhere, and held it up to the back of the car, “you guys wanna smoke?” 

Kiba waited to hear Kankuro’s answer first, he had no idea if he drank or smoked. “Sure” said Kankuro. “A little.”  
“Sure” said Kiba a moment after. 

“You don’t have any drug tests for lacrosse or anything, right?” Shikamaru looked very serious for a moment. 

“No, our coach talks about smoking all the time. As long as we’re not doing like, steroids, he doesn't care.”

“If you’re sure” Shikamaru said. 

Temari and Shikamaru started getting out of their seats, and Kiba was a little sad that he wasn’t going to have an excuse to be sitting so close to Kankuro. He went to unbuckle his seatbelt, his hand brushing against Kankuro’s as he did it. 

He made it out of the car as gracefully as he could. The four of them gathered around the front of the car, and Shikamaru started to light the joint. Kiba rested his butt against the hood of the car, and watched Shikamaru. Kankuro was next to him suddenly, putting his hand on Kiba’s back to get him off the car. “I wouldn’t lean on her car if you know what’s good for you,” he said. Kiba looked toward Temari and saw that she was glaring at him. Her face softened to a smile as he got up off the hood of the car. 

Kankuro moved his hand off Kiba to take the joint from Shikamaru, and Kiba felt its absence as soon as he did. Kankuro took a puff and closed his eyes for a moment before exhaling, passing the joint to Kiba. Kiba didn’t smoke a ton, but some of his friends did. He didn’t want to get too high this early, so he took a little puff and held the joint out to Temari. 

“Nah, I’m driving” she took it anyway and walked it over to Shikamaru, bringing it to his mouth herself. He inhaled and exhaled a perfect smoke ring, making Temari giggle. They were so cute Kiba couldn’t really stand it, maybe that’s why he was leaning so hard into the crush. It was hard not to feel how much the couple loved each other.

“Seriously guys, get a room” Kankuro rolled his eyes and took the joint from Shikamaru. He took another hit and passed it to Kiba. Kiba decided to just go for it. He took a big inhale and tried to blow a smoke ring into the air in front of him. It wasn’t as perfect as Shikamaru’s was, but it was big and you could kinda see it. Shikamaru hooted and pointed to the smoke ring and started clapping. Kiba started coughing hard, he had inhaled way too much. Temari walked over and smacked him on the back, laughing, and took the joint from him. 

They passed it around one more time, Kiba doing his best not to cough this time and failing.   
“You ok?” asked Kankuro. Kiba nodded and tried to answer but just coughed some more. Temari opened the car door, and pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to Kiba. He was embarrassed but took a sip, feeling his throat cool down a little.   
He closed his eyes and tried to not cough, and heard Kankuro say “nah, I’m good” and Shikamaru say “ok, cool”.

“You ok?” Kankuro asked again. Kiba opened his eyes to see Kankuro right next to him, looking concerned. Kiba felt himself blush, this was embarrassing. “Shikamaru always has strong stuff, I’m surprised I’m not coughing too. Was the smoke ring worth it?” he was smiling at Kiba. His face looked relaxed and stoned and Kiba thought for the 100th time that day that Kankuro was really cute. He laughed at the joke and coughed a little. Kankuro patted his back gently.

They sat outside for a few more minutes. Kiba finished the entire water bottle, and Shikamaru finished the entire joint. He blew a couple more perfect smoke rings, trying to explain tips to Kiba as he did it. Kiba promised to try another time.

__________________

It was chilly outside, Kankuro bounced on his feet a little while they got ready to go into the party. The street was packed tight with cars on both sides, some people parked nearby and waved at them. Kankuro assumed they were also going to the party. Temari had said it was a few blocks away. Kankuro was glad he was stoned, he knew it was going to be a lot of people, more than he wanted to be around, but he was feeling calm and happy. 

Kiba seemed like he was finished with his coughing fit, and Shikamaru was finished smoking. Temari said “ok boys, lets go” and started down the street. There were duplexes lining the road, the party throwers must have patient neighbors because it was getting louder as they got closer to the house. Temari and Shikamaru walked hand in hand, chatting quietly together. Kiba and Kankuro walked side by side behind them, their arms occasionally brushing together. 

Kankuro felt Kiba poke him in the side. “For real, who’s party is this”, he asked. 

“Some high school friend of my brother’s friend. I don’t actually know him” 

“You have a brother too?” 

“Yep, Gaara. He’s a little younger than me. He’s a good guy”. The three siblings were all fiercely protective of each other, and Kankuro wanted to paint a good picture of Gaara in case anyone said anything bad about him that Kiba overheard. Gaara had been a trouble maker, he knew that was true. But he really had changed and Kankuro wanted people to think as highly of his brother as he did. “Do you have any siblings?” 

“A sister, Hana. She’s probably a little older than Temari. She’s in vet school so she’s really busy these days”

“Your whole family likes animals, huh?” 

“Yeah, my mom’s a vet too. You can probably tell where I get it from” Kiba laughed. Kankuro thought about the absence of Akamaru at this point, he was surprised Kiba didn’t ask to bring him along. It didn’t seem like they spent a lot of time apart. “What about you, any pets?”

“Nope, never had any. Gaara had some weird cat that he tried to hide in his room for a while, but had to give it away. My professor actually took it, which worked out well. My dad is kind of a jerk and doesn't like animals”

“What about your mom?” Kiba asked. 

Kankuro prepped for things to get awkward. When he told people he had a dead mom, they usually got kind of weird about it. Truthfully Kankuro could barely remember his mom, she died when Gaara was born. He knew it made Gaara the most upset out of the siblings, but Kankuro forgot about her sometimes. It felt like she was never really there, like it had always just been Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. “My mom died when I was really little. It’s not a big deal, I don’t remember her much”. 

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. Sorry I brought it up.” Kiba said. 

Now Kankuro poked Kiba in the side, which made him smile “It’s not a big deal, I promise”. Kiba seemed to let it go, but that could have been because they had arrived at the house. 

There were people in the front yard, and a few of them called out hello’s to Temari and Shikamaru. They really did know people wherever they went. The house was pretty packed, people were drinking and talking loudly inside. Kankuro could see people playing beer pong in the living room, he didn’t recognize anyone he knew. 

He followed his sister down the hall, getting a little bit of tunnel vision as he went, he was feeling pretty high. Kiba was right behind him, and grabbed Kankuro’s sleeve when they passed through a particularly large group of people. Kankuro debated trying to hold his hand, but felt weird about it. He knew that he was crushing very hard on Kiba already, but maybe Kiba was just this friendly with everyone, he seemed like that kind of guy. 

They entered a kitchen, which seemed a little less packed. There was a white haired guy in a cropped purple shirt who appeared to be chugging straight from a bottle of vodka. He saw Temari and Shikamaru and stopped chugging, and walked toward them, holding out the bottle. 

“Suigetsu!” Temari cheered, declining the bottle but giving him a high five. Shikamaru also waved the bottle away and Suigetsu responded with a high five. 

“More for me!” he said, and took another swig.   
_________________________________

Kiba was feeling pretty good. He was finally done coughing, and felt a little too high to be too embarrassed. He felt bad about bringing up Kankuro’s mom but hadn’t known, and Kankuro really hadn’t seemed bothered. This Suigetsu guy seemed a little crazy, but he seemed like he knew how to throw a good party. Kiba started swaying a little to the music, and looked around. 

He saw some drinks, and debated grabbing one, but decided he would wait to see what Kankuro did. He had grabbed Kankuro’s sleeve in the hall, he had thought about trying to hold his hand, but didn’t know if Kankuro would want him to. He knew he liked Kankuro already, but what if Kankuro was just being nice to him. 

He looked at Kankuro, he was in the middle of taking his coat off and Kiba took the opportunity to check him out. He was taller and broader than Kiba, but he looked strong, Kiba wanted to find out if he was. Then Kankuro was lifted from behind, scooped in the air by someone grabbing around his middle. If Kiba thought Kankuro was big, it was because he had missed the guy picking him up. He had bright orange hair, and was huge. 

“Jugo!” Kankuro smiled and turned to give the orange haired guy a hug. Kiba felt jealous for a split second, but mostly was happy to see how happy Kankuro looked. A smaller white haired guy with red eye makeup stepped out from behind the huge orange haired guy. “Kimimaro!” Kankuro smiled and waved to the white haired guy who gave a smile and a nod in reply. 

Temari and Shikamaru turned to greet the newcomers, and they all exchanged some hugs and hellos. Kiba heard Temari ask Jugo and Kimimaro if Gaara had decided to come with them, and heard them say he wasn’t coming. Kiba felt a little out of place. He never minded parties, but that was because he usually knew most people. He didn’t know anyone here, and started to pull out his phone to distract himself. 

“This is Kiba” Temari had planted her hands on his shoulders. “He’s Kankuro’s friend, but apparently Kankuro is too rude to introduce him” Kankuro gave a little huff of protest, but Temari started introducing Kiba to the group. Jugo and Kimimaro were friends of Gaara’s, and Kiba had caught them giving each other a little smile when Gaara was mentioned. Temari spun Kiba around to face the vodka drinker, who she introduced as Suigetsu. Suigetsu gave him a sharp toothed smile, and held the bottle of vodka out to him.

“I’ll pass for now, but thanks” he said, his vision needed a second to catch up after Temari had spun him around.

“More for me” Suigetsu said, and winked at Kiba before walking away. Kiba blushed and peeked toward Kankuro, curious if he had seen the winking, but Kankuro was in an animated conversation with Jugo. It sounded like they were talking about birds. 

The guy who had been introduced as Kimimaro was standing there alone, looking around the kitchen. He seemed kind of intimidating, but Kiba felt weird just standing there by himself. “Hey, pretty cool here, huh?” Weed and nerves hadn’t turned him into a master conversationalist. 

“I guess it is pretty cool here” Kimimaro chuckled at Kiba, and Kiba started to get embarrassed, but the other guy said in a lighter tone “you want anything to drink?” as he nodded toward a big tub that looked like it was full of beer. Kiba hated beer, but needed something to do with his hands so he agreed. He followed Kimimaro to the tubs, choosing something because it had a dog on the bottle. 

“I like your outfit,” Kiba said, looking for something to talk about. It seemed like everyone Kankuro knew dressed extremely cool. Kimimaro was wearing some kind of flowy white button down shirt, most of the buttons were undone. It showed off a black tattoo on his chest. 

“Thanks, I like yours too” Kimimaro said, but it sounded like he was just being polite. Kiba looked down, trying to remember what he was wearing, and by the time he looked back up, Kimimaro was walking away, back toward the rest of their group. Kiba just kind of stood there for a second, and pretended to look at the beers some more. 

“Hey” Kankuro had walked right next to him, brushing against his arm. “Whatcha got?” he lifted Kiba’s hand so he could look at the bottle. “Interesting,” Kankuro said, and grabbed a bottle of water from the counter. Kiba felt suddenly weird that he had the beer, what if Kankuro wasn’t going to be drinking anything, was it rude if he was? “Tem!” Kankuro called out, and tossed the water bottle to Temari. He did a crappy toss, and the bottle probably would have sailed past her if it wasn’t for Jugo catching it. 

“I’ll get the same as you, I guess” Kankuro said, rummaging around the beer to get one that matched Kiba’s. “Is it any good?”

“I have no idea” Kiba admitted a little sheepishly “I picked it because of the bottle”.

“That’s cute” Kankuro chuckled, and Kiba felt his chest tighten a little at the sound. Kankuro ended up grabbing a random beer and another bottle of water “You want to find somewhere to sit?” 

“Definitely” Kiba said and then thought about it “You don’t want to hang out with your friends some more?” 

“We can hang out with them later, right now I want to hang out with you. And to be honest, I feel kinda high and just want to sit for a minute”

Kiba was relieved to hear it “lead the way”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> important writers note: "Shots" by LMFAO is playing every time Suigetsu is mentioned.


	7. Chapter 7

They had settled on a spot in the backyard. There was still a decent amount of people out there, and it was chilly, but someone had set up a little fire pit. Kankuro and Kiba sat down next to each other on two plastic chairs and chatted for a while. 

Kiba thought his beer was gross, he sipped at it a little to be polite, but Kankuro must have noticed because he asked Kiba if he wanted to switch. Kiba agreed, feeling a little silly for feeling something about sharing a bottle with Kankuro. 

Kankuro took one sip of Kiba’s beer and almost spit it out. “Nevermind. This is gross” they laughed together about it and Kankuro said “save my seat”. Kankuro’s jacket had been on the back of his chair, but he draped it on Kiba’s shoulders before he walked away. “You looked chilly” he said, and smiled before going inside to get them new beers. 

Kiba sat in the chair with his eyes closed for a moment. This was nice. He felt relaxed from smoking and he felt cozy under the coat. The fire was crackling in front of him, he could still hear the music but it sounded muffled outside. He was happy he was here, he was happy he was getting to know Kankuro. 

He felt something smack the top of his head. He opened his eyes, wondering what was going on. 

“KIIIIIBA” Naruto was about 3 inches from his face, and he smelled like beer and food “Thought you were sleeping, dude!” 

Kiba almost toppled the chair backwards “Shit, Naruto. Why were you so close to my face? Why are you here?”

“Suigetsu knows Sasuke from somewhere. Sasuke told me to come here, I think he just wanted me out of his way for the night, if I’m being real.” 

Kiba turned toward the house and saw Kankuro coming out the back door. Kiba had seen how uncomfortable Naruto seemed to make Kankuro and really didn’t want it to happen now. “Hey Naruto, can you just chill for just one minute?”

“Why…” asked Naruto, immediately looking suspicious. He followed Kiba’s gaze to the house as Kankuro walked into the backyard. “Oooooh” Naruto elbowed Kiba’s shoulder, “I see how it is. HEY PUPPET GUY”.

Kankuro’s smile dropped when he heard Naruto yelling. Kiba just wanted Naruto to go away and it to be the nice peaceful moment he was having a minute ago. The door opened behind Kankuro and Temari stepped out. “Kankuro, isn’t that your weird old roommate who was really messy and farted all the time?” she wasn’t screaming like Naruto was, but she made sure her voice carried. A couple people in the backyard turned to see who she was talking to.

“What the fuck” Naruto muttered, he was beet red and trying not to make eye contact with any of the people looking at him “I’ll see you later Kiba” and he walked away. Kiba noticed Hinata and their friend Ino in another part of the yard. He waved to the girls, who were busy laughing at Naruto as he approached them.

“He shows up everywhere, doesn’t he?” Kankuro said, sitting down next to Kiba. He scooted the chair a little bit closer this time. 

“I swear, he’s very annoying sometimes, but he’s not that bad” Kiba looked over and saw Naruto and Hinata with their arms around each other, Naruto already looked a lot calmer. “He cares a lot about people… he just has a very loud way of showing it”. 

Kankuro handed Kiba a new beer. It was still gross because it was beer, but it was more drinkable than the last one. They sat and talked for a while, Kiba tried to explain the rules of lacrosse and talked about the game earlier that day. He talked about how he had adopted Akamaru as a tiny puppy, and all the cute things he loved about Akamaru. He told Kankuro more about his sister Hana, Temari kind of reminded Kiba of her. Kiba talked about his truck, he wanted Kankuro to see it, it wasn’t fast like Temari’s car, but he still loved it. 

Kiba felt like he talked about himself for hours, and was worried he wasn’t giving any space for Kankuro to talk. He knew he did that sometimes, but he tried hard not to. “I’m sorry I’m talking too much, tell me stuff! Tell me about the puppets Naruto keeps screaming about!” Kankuro nudged him with his foot and made a skeptical face “I’m serious dude, I want to hear about it!” Kiba said as he nudged him back.

Kankuro started off kind of reserved, telling Kiba a little about the puppetry program at their school. It was the reason he chose their university. Not many places offered it, and the professor was apparently really well known. Kankuro got more excited as he talked about it, explaining to Kiba about traditional Japanese puppet theater, it was what he was going to do his thesis on. He told Kiba about puppets he had built, and other set building projects he had worked on with the theater program.

Kiba’s previous knowledge of puppets was mostly from Sesame Street, and he couldn’t remember ever having been to a play that wasn’t at his elementary school. But even though he couldn’t always follow what Kankuro was saying, he liked listening to him talk. Kankuro had been happy all night, but really perked up when he was talking about this. It was clear he was passionate about it, and Kiba found that really endearing. 

They talked for a while longer, about their families, their hobbies, and about school. Kankuro got up at one point to grab them another beer, his hand lingered on Kiba’s when he gave it to him. Kiba told him about all the dogs in his family (there were a lot), and learned more about Kankuro’s brother Gaara. Kiba talked about Shino’s bugs, how they all had names and how Shino could tell them apart. Kankuro told him about visiting family in the desert, and the weird plants and critters that lived out there.   
Kiba wasn’t sure how long they had been talking. It felt like hours and it didn’t feel like any time had passed at all. He felt a little buzzed by the time they got to their third beers, but they both were excited when Jugo came out and asked them if they wanted to play beer pong.

________________________________

Kankuro didn’t realize how tipsy he was until they were inside trying to set up the beer pong table. He had tried line up the cups at first, but Kimimaro walked over and straightened them out to a cleaner shape. 

Naruto walked over with Hinata and another girl. Kankuro saw Kiba look a little panicked at their arrival and start to step toward them, before Naruto could reach them. 

Hinata pushed Naruto forward gently “you guys mind if we play too?” he asked. It was the most quiet Kankuro had heard him speak, which meant it was at a normal volume. 

“Sure” said Kankuro, placing his hand on Kiba’s lower back. Kiba turned to him with a huge smile. Kankuro still thought Naruto was kind of awful, but if Kiba was friends with him Kankuro didn’t want to be a jerk. They played beer pong for a while, Kiba and Naruto were clearly the best at it, the only athletes in the group. Naruto tried to say Temari was cheating by not drinking, but everyone told him to shut up and Temari gave him a brief lecture about the dangers of drunk driving until he apologized. 

Kankuro got more drunk as the game went on. At one point, Suigetsu came in singing the “Shots” song with a tray full of Jello shots, and they all took one. Suigetsu joined in the game, he complimented Kiba, and started loudly saying he needed help with his form. After a few minutes of this, Kiba stood behind Suigetsu, and moved his body and arms into what was apparently the best beer pong stance. They were laughing together, and Kiba looked really happy. 

Kankuro tried not to be jealous, but this seemed like evidence that Kiba was just this way with everyone, and that Kankuro was definitely reading too much into things. He tried to hold tight to all the good feelings he had all night, he didn’t want to pretend the party wasn’t good just because Kiba didn’t like him. He felt kind of stupid. He didn't really know Kiba, plus he was a hot jock who clearly had better social skills than Kankuro. He could feel himself spiraling, and excused himself to go to the bathroom, but didn’t think anyone actually heard him. 

He was in line for the bathroom, a few people were ahead of him, they were saying something about somebody in there puking. Kankuro leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes. He was tired and felt kind of stupid for feeling so sad. He could tell he was drunk, and knew somewhere in his head that was making him sadder. 

“Hey Kankuro, you ok?” Jugo was next to him, his large hand on Kankuro’s shoulder. 

“Huh, oh, yeah… just needed a breather”

“Kiba’s pretty cute” Jugo teased.   
“Yeah, I guess. I think he’s out of my league though” Kankuro sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall again.

Jugo just laughed, and it hurt Kankuro’s feelings. “Kankuro. He’s been following you around smiling all night. He likes you.” Oh. That wasn’t what Kankuro was expecting. Jugo laughed again, he was trying to be friendly. “Is this because Suigetsu is in there flirting with him?” Kankuro’s face apparently answered for him before he could speak, because Jugo said “c’mere” and pulled Kankuro by the collar of his shirt back to the living room. 

The game was still going on. Suigetsu was standing close to Kiba, whispering something in his ear. Kiba looked less smiley than the last time Kankuro had seen him and he felt bad for leaving. Jugo walked away from Kankuro and over to Suigetsu. He picked the Suigetsu up and swung him over his shoulder, carrying him into the kitchen. Suigetsu was laughing, this clearly wasn’t the first time Jugo had pulled that move. 

Kiba walked up to Kankuro. “Hey, I missed you! I think that guy was trying to flirt with me? I just wanted us to win beer pong. Then I felt weird just walking away from him because it’s his house.”

Kankuro felt stupid, and relieved. 

___________________

They finished up the game, and Kiba was drunk and exhausted. They had won, which meant Naruto was pouting about being on the losing team for the second time that day. 

“I’m tired” Kiba said, resting his head on Kankuro’s shoulder. They had sat down on the couch when the game finished. The party was showing no sign of winding down and another group had started to play. Kankuro and Kiba were sitting closely to each other, and Kiba thought he probably would have been trying to make more of a move if he wasn’t so sleepy. He had played the lacrosse game earlier that afternoon, it had been a big day.

“Me too” Kankuro said quietly, close to Kiba’s ear. He pulled out his phone “Let me text Temari” 

“No, no. I don't want everyone to have to leave because of me” Kiba nuzzled his head closer into Kankuro’s shoulder and yawned. Kankuro smelled like beer and weed and soap. Kiba wanted to be asleep in his own bed very badly, but didn’t want to have to move away from Kankuro. 

“It’s ok, I’m tired too” Kankuro sent a text and leaned back into the couch. Kiba felt like he was going to fall asleep right there and didn’t mind it. A few minutes later Temari and Shikamaru were in front of them. Shikamaru was obviously pretty drunk, he was leaning on Temari and was looking at her with more adoration than Kiba had seen before, which was saying a lot. 

Temari told them she needed to make sure everyone else could get home safely and plopped Shikamaru on the couch next to Kiba. Shikamaru immediately flopped across Kankuro and Kiba’s laps. “You guys are great” he slurred “This is fun! Kiba! I like hanging out with you!” He and Kiba did a poorly aimed high five. “Kankuro, I want to marry your sister someday, I’m serious”. Kiba saw him try to make a very serious face at Kankuro. 

“I know you do” Kankuro patted Shikamaru on the head. “She wants to marry you too, I’m sure”. 

“Shit, you think so?” Shikamaru asked, he looked like he was going to cry because he was so happy. 

“Yes. Shikamaru, please chill.” 

Temari was back in a few minutes. She told them that Suigetsu had said Naruto, Hinata, and Ino could stay on the couches since they were all too drunk to drive. Temari had hid their keys on top of the fridge, just to be sure. She would text Suigetsu in the morning to let him know where she had hid them. Kimimaro was apparently trashed, but could have fooled Kiba, he still seemed very calm and intimidating. Jugo was good to drive him home though, he had only had one beer. After she was satisfied knowing that everyone was in good hands, Temari ordered Kankuro, Kiba, and Shikamaru to get ready and go to the front yard while she pulled the car up to the house for them.

Kiba was impressed how much Temari was doing so everyone was safe and taken care of. He said so out loud, and Shikamaru answered with a quiet, tearful “I’m gonna marry that woman someday”.

Kiba and Kankuro struggled to get Shikamaru up and moving. Jugo must have noticed and came over and scooped Shikamaru up and carried him to the front yard. Temari pulled up her little car, and Kiba and Kankuro somehow tumbled into the backseat. They were pressed up against each other again, closer than they had been on the couch. Jugo loaded Shikamaru into the front seat and headed back inside after saying goodbye to everyone, and telling Kiba it was nice to meet him. 

After making sure everyone was buckled in and had all their belongings and some bottles of water, Temari started the drive home. She played some calm, quiet music and sang along. Shikamaru almost immediately fell asleep, and Kiba thought he wasn’t far behind. He leaned his head onto Kankuro’s shoulder. It wasn’t clear which one of them was the first to do it, but their hands met at some point, and their fingers intertwined. Kiba fell asleep holding Kankuro’s hand, feeling so damn happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly about Kiba and Kankuro, but please know that Temari is the hero of the story.


	8. Chapter 8

“Wakeup guys” Temari’s voice was soft as she reached into the backseat to pat Kankuro and Kiba’s knees. Kankuro blinked slowly, peeking out the window to see the parking lot near his dorm. 

Shikamaru sleep-grumbled something from the front seat, but Kankuro didn’t understand it. He was focusing on the fact that he and Kiba were holding hands. Kiba yawned and lifted his head off Kankuro’s shoulder, stretching his other arm to the side, as much as he could in the small car. He kept his hand linked with Kankuro’s and gave him a sleepy smile. 

“Do you need help getting back to your dorm?” Temari asked. Her voice was a little louder now that they were awake. 

“I think we’re ok” Kiba answered, and looked at Kankuro for reassurance. 

“Yeah, I think we are” He still felt pretty drunk and knew that when he was up and moving he probably wouldn’t be that steady. But the outcome of the night with Kiba had him feeling alert. He kept expecting Kiba to let go or tell Kankuro the whole thing was just some kind of joke.

Temari got out of the car, and pushed her seat forward so they could get out. Kankuro reluctantly let go of Kiba’s hand and followed after him. Temari pulled her little brother into a hug, “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. I’ll text you when we get back to the hotel”. Shikamaru mumbled something about breakfast from the front seat of the car.

He thanked her, and then Temari went over and hugged Kiba. “I’ll see you at Suigetsu’s halloween party?” 

“Oh! If I’m invited?” Kiba looked very excited at the idea of it. 

“Yes, you’re invited” Temari sighed “and I can’t drive this time, so you’ll have to take Kankuro”. 

“Tem” Kankuro knew he had his sister to thank for the whole night with Kiba, he would have been too chicken to do anything on his own. But he also didn’t want her to scare Kiba away. 

“Yeah, I’d be happy to” Kiba stepped next to Kankuro and grabbed his hand. Kankuro felt his face flush and his pulse quicken when he did it. 

Temari winked at the two of them, and got back in the car. She leaned over to the sleeping Shikamaru and checked his seatbelt. “Be safe, drink water” she said with a serious tone before winking again and driving away.

“So” Kankuro had instantly felt some of his confidence drive away with Temari. She always saved situations when they got awkward and he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to be a complete weirdo without her here.

“So” Kiba replied. He turned toward Kankuro and he felt himself freeze. This night was going so well, he didn’t need to be as nervous as he was. “You ok?” 

“Yeah, just… surprised how this night is going”

“It’s been really nice” Kiba smiled and squeezed Kankuro’s hand a little. Kankuro half expected Naruto to bust in and start yelling, and was both happy and nervous that he wasn’t. Kiba smiled, and leaned up toward Kankuro and kissed him once. It was so gentle and quick that Kankuro didn’t have time to process it or even really kiss back. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest as Kiba looked up at him and smiled. 

Kankuro must have been standing shocked for too long, because Kiba’s smile faded, and now he just looked worried. “Shit, I’m sorry, was that ok?” he started to step away from Kankuro and it felt like every inch he moved away put a mile between them.

He felt Kiba’s hand start to let go of this and Kankuro knew he needed to do something. He felt like such an idiot and he knew his face was bright red and he was going to ruin everything. Kankuro tightened his grip on Kiba’s hand before he could pull away. He took a deep breath.  
“No! Don’t apologize! It was more than ok. It was great” Kiba’s face changed again, he looked so relieved. “I’m just drunk and nervous and you’re hot and-”

“You think I’m hot!?” Kiba stepped closer toward Kankuro and he felt like he might pass out if he kept embarrassing himself like this. 

“Yeah” Kankuro said it so quietly he barely heard himself. 

“Well I think you’re hot too” Kiba stepped even closer to Kankuro and smiled up at him again. “But you’re right. I’m drunk too, and I’m nervous-”

“You’re nervous?” Kankuro scoffed at that. He figured Kiba was just trying to be nice. 

“Hell yeah I am dude” They both looked at each other and laughed, “I’ve had such a good night! I like you and I want to hang out with you more” he squeezed Kankuro’s hand, “We should go to bed and hang out tomorrow.” 

Kankuro felt a fleeting moment of panic, that maybe Kiba was just trying to get away from him. But Kiba only gave him one more quick, gentle kiss, and again Kankuro didn’t feel like he had the time to react. He took another deep breath and raised a hand to hold Kiba’s face. Kankuro leaned down and kissed him, ready for it this time. This time the kiss was different. It was hungrier and deeper and when Kankuro pulled away Kiba let out a small groan that Kankuro felt in his gut. 

“You said we should go to sleep” he said quietly.

“I did, didn’t I” Kiba’s voice was a little breathless and it was so hard not to kiss him again.

Kankuro pulled on Kiba’s hand gently and started walking toward the dorm. Kiba pouted for a second, and followed. Now they stood at the end of Kankuro’s hall, sharing another kiss that was hard to stop. The dorm was quiet for a Friday night, it was late enough so there wasn’t anyone around.“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Kiba whispered, his lips brushing against Kankuro’s. 

Kankuro wanted to pinch himself just to check that it was all really happening. “Yeah. Tomorrow”  
There were a few more kisses, and then Kankuro’s phone buzzed. The text from Temari read ‘at the hotel, have fun’ with a smiley face with sunglasses emoji.

They had still been holding hands, but let go so Kankuro could text back. He replied with the same emoji and a ‘thanks for driving’. This seemed like as good of a moment as they would get, so he and Kiba actually parted ways. Kiba smiled at him before heading to the stairs, and Kankuro still couldn’t believe it was all happening. 

Kankuro got to his room and flopped into bed. His heart was still pounding and he felt like there were a million butterflies in his stomach. There was some fleeting fear that Kiba didn’t mean any of it, and he wouldn’t want to see him again. Kankuro tried to think through the ways his brain was trying to sabotage him from being happy and tried to relax a little. His phone buzzed again, and he saw a text from Kiba ‘home safe’ with a winking face, and then a picture of Akamaru. Kankuro’s heart felt full, and he somehow got himself to fall asleep.

__________________

Kiba was in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. _‘we should go to bed and hang out tomorrow’_ was not something he expected to hear himself say. He didn’t tend to react that way. Kiba would never push anyone to do anything they didn’t want to do, but he was more of a _‘lets go to your room and make out and see where that takes us’ kind of guy._

But he knew he was a little drunk, and he knew Kankuro was too. And seeing how flustered and nervous Kankuro had been made Kiba want to be so sure he didn’t fuck anything up. The party had been so fun, and he had really liked talking with Kankuro. And Temari and Shikamaru were so nice and he couldn’t wait to hang out with them again. He had such a good night, and he just didn’t want to mess things up. Just holding Kankuro’s hand had made him feel so happy, before they had even started kissing. And then the kissing had been so nice… He was ready for it to be tomorrow, he just wanted to see Kankuro again. It was weird to know he was only just a few floors away.

He got to his room and opened the door wide, calling out “Akamaru!” 

“Oh my god Kiba, really?” Shino was back, he was in his bed holding an arm up to shield his eyes from the light Kiba was letting in from the hall. Kiba whispered an apology, and crawled into his bed, where Akamaru was already sleeping. Kiba knew his dog was happy to see him, but Akamaru seemed about as appreciative as Shino at having his sleep interrupted.

Kiba realized Akamaru was sleeping on Kankuro’s blanket, he really needed to give that back. But for now, he was happy to have something of Kankuro’s in his bed. He felt silly thinking that, it was such an innocent crush feeling, but he loved it. He texted Kankuro, and soon fell asleep, looking forward to the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, some kissing!!!! >:)
> 
> If Shino wasn't in the room, Kiba was just going to tell Akamaru everything that happened out loud.


	9. Chapter 9

It was 9:30, Kankuro had slept in later than he usually did. He remembered the events of the previous night in his head. He still couldn’t believe things had gone the way they did. He felt a little queasy from the alcohol, but judging by the messages he had gotten from Temari, Shikamaru was feeling worse. There was a snapchat of him at what must have been the hotel’s breakfast. There was toast on a plate in front of him, and he looked exhausted. 

There were no texts from Kiba, and Kankuro felt a little nervous. Maybe he had just been drunk and didn’t actually mean he wanted to see him. Kankuro tried to remind himself that maybe he was just sleeping, or waiting for Kankuro to text him. He decided to wait and see, he didn’t want to be annoying.

Waiting was much harder than anticipated. Kankuro showered, drank some water, and made his bed. He was tidying his desk to try to keep busy when his phone buzzed. He dove for it quicker than he was proud to admit. 

‘Kim and Juugo said you were with a guy at the party last night?’ read the text from Gaara. Kankuro paused, he wasn’t expecting the text to be from his brother, and he was a little disappointed. It also took him a second to figure out that Kim must have meant Kimimaro. Kankuro had never heard anyone call him that, he was surprised Kimimaro let people give him a nickname.

‘Surprised Tem didn’t already tell you all about it’ Kankuro replied.

‘She did, but told me I needed the details from you’

Kankuro sighed, not at all surprised that Temari had already given Gaara some of the gossip. He sent a couple texts back, telling Gaara he was a guy from his building, who plays lacrosse, and has a cute dog. He didn’t try to sell Kiba too hard, he knew Gaara would be suspicious of him until he met Kiba himself. It was who his brother was, and Kankuro had just grown to accept it. 

‘I guess I’ll meet him on halloween’ was Gaara’s reply. Then one more text that said ‘I’m happy for you’. 

Kankuro was embarrassed that his siblings felt like they needed to take care of him this much, but was still appreciative that they did. His phone buzzed again, and he opened it, curious what Gaara had to say. 

It was a text from Kiba that said ‘hey :)’ with the message speech bubble indicating he was still typing. 

Kankuro closed out of the message immediately, knowing that Kiba had seen that it was read a second after it was sent. He was embarrassed and didn’t want to look like he had just been waiting for the message (even though he had).

Another text came through ‘still wanna hang out later?’ 

Kankuro wanted to talk himself out of it because he was nervous, but sent back a ‘sure’. 

Kiba’s reply was instant ‘:) want 2 go 2 hiking’

Kankuro wasn’t sure he had ever actually gone hiking. Was he supposed to have special shoes or something? He sent a text back saying that it sounded like a great plan, and they made plans to meet up in an hour. Kankuro started scrambling through his closet. He had mentally planned to wear some cool clothes from Temari, but were those hiking clothes? How cold was it going to be? Did he need a backpack? Did he need some kind of tick protection?

He texted Shikamaru, he was an Eagle Scout, he knew these kinds of things. ‘What does someone wear to go hiking?”

He got a facetime call from Shikamaru a few minutes later, and Temari and Shikamaru’s faces filled the screen of his phone. “You’re going hiking?” Temari didn’t try to hide her disbelief or her smirk “with Kiba?”

“Yes, with Kiba” Kankuro sighed, but smiled. He was excited, even though he was nervous as hell.

A very tired looking Shikamaru asked where they were going for the hike, and Kankuro admitted he had no idea. “Just wear jeans and a hoodie or something. And sneakers. There’s nothing around you that’s a really serious hike. Unless you’re going to Myoboku? But that’s pretty far… bring a water bottle. And probably a first aid kit. And-”

Temari cut him off. “No. Chill. You’re going to freak him out. You said it wouldn’t be a serious hike”. Shikamaru muttered something about being prepared. Temari ignored it and agreed that jeans and a hoodie made sense. She told him to have fun and send her pictures and stopped Shikamaru from talking when he tried to describe the area’s poisonous snakes. “Have fun” she said, with a genuine smile, and hung up the call.

Kankuro put on jeans that he thought looked nice, and a black hoodie with a scorpion design on the front. It was from his teacher’s puppet company, and he thought it looked kind of cool. The shoe part was easy, he only had two pairs of sneakers. He tried to mess with his hair, and brushed his teeth. 

_____________

Kiba knocked on Kankuro’s door, Akamaru was trying to stick his nose under the door, sniffing loudly.

As soon as the door opened, Akamaru darted in the room, sniffing and looking around, and then jumped up and settled on Kankuro’s bed. 

“Hey” Kiba said, stepping toward Kankuro. Kiba knew he liked him, but was worried the whole thing might have been just a one off night. From the way Kankuro was blushing and looking at him, it didn’t seem like it though. 

When Kiba had asked Kankuro to hang out the night before, he figured Kankuro would expect them to go somewhere or walk around campus. Kiba would have been ok if “hanging out” meant making out in Kankuro’s dorm room, but didn’t think he would consider that a date. Was this a date? Kiba wasn’t sure. 

Kankuro had stepped away to pet Akamaru and Kiba felt his heart warm at the sight. Something about Kankuro made Kiba want to try hard to make sure he was happy. He thought about the other day, when he had seen Kankuro playing with Akamaru. The jocks Kiba had dated in the past played fetch with his dog like they just wanted to show off how far they could throw a ball. Kankuro played with Akamaru very sincerely and Kiba was so happy to see it. 

“So where are we going? Shikamaru tried to warn me about poisonous snakes.”

Kiba smiled when he realized this meant Kankuro had told Shikamaru and Temari that they would be going hiking. “There’s an overlook called Hokage Rock pretty close, I thought we could go there. Akamaru really likes it.”

“Well if he likes it, it must be a good place” Kankuro said, and Kiba felt so happy that they were spending time together. 

Kiba decided to be impulsive, it was driving him crazy figuring out where things stood between them. He looked at Kankuro standing next to his bed. Kiba quietly closed the door behind him, and closed the space between them. Kankuro looked a little flustered as Kiba put his hands gently on his chest. “Is this ok” he asked quietly, leaning up his face toward Kankuro’s. He could feel Kankuro’s heart beating through his shirt as he looked at Kiba and nodded gently. He was biting his lip a little and that was all it took for Kiba. 

He leaned up and kissed Kankuro. And as much as Kiba wanted to push him down onto the bed, he let himself be in the moment of just kissing. Kankuro kissed him back gently, but his hands were stiffly down at his sides, while Kiba’s were holding onto his hoodie. Kiba stopped and backed up, and Kankuro looked sad as soon as he did. 

“You ok?” He asked, he wanted to reach for Kankuro’s hand, but didn’t want to push him. Kiba silently cursed himself for not being able to be chill for a second. He didn’t want to ruin this, he was going to just freak Kankuro out.

“I’m ok” Kankuro took a deep breath and nodded. “God, I’m just nervous. I’m embarrassed and I’m sorry. I just keep trying to figure out what’s happening here. I know we just met, but I don’t get it. Why would _you_ like _me_?” he was kind of rambling, and Kiba felt awkward that he had come on so strongly. Kiba took a few steps back and sat down at Kankuro’s desk chair.

“I like you because you’re handsome and tall and you’re nice.” Kiba said, a rare seriousness in his tone. “I like you because I like the way you play fetch with my dog.” Kankuro looked at him skeptically when he said that. “It might sound silly, but it’s cute and shows you’re a good dude.” 

Akamaru perked up at the word “fetch”, and popped up, nudging Kankuro’s hand. It broke the tension for a moment and they laughed. 

“You’re a good kisser, you have cool friends, and you looked at dumb memes with me. I don’t get what there’s not to like.” Kiba continued, crossing his arms. “I want to get to know you more and go hiking and go to the halloween party together”

“Yeah?” Kankuro said, he was blushing and smiling at Kiba. 

“Yeah!” Kiba said, his voice was kind but serious.

“Sorry. I like you too” Kankuro said quietly “I just… I’m not used to this and I was worried it was just some drunk thing.” 

“Well it’s not” Kiba said, still trying to sound stern as he stood up. “Let’s go, I’ll keep you safe from the poisonous snakes.”

_____________________

Kankuro felt stupid. He was getting caught up in his own head and didn’t want to freak Kiba out. He watched as Kiba stood up from his desk chair and walked over to him.  
“C’mon Akamaru” Kiba said, and the little dog jumped off Kankuro’s bed. Kiba held his hand out to Kankuro and waited, a hesitant smile on his face. 

Kankuro smiled back, his brain still replaying all the nice things Kiba had said about him. He linked his hand with Kiba’s, and the smile that Kiba gave him could have lit up the room. 

“Thank you” he told Kiba, and got a quick peck on the cheek in response. 

Akamaru had made his way to the door, and gave a little bark. He was looking back toward the two guys impatiently. The three of them made their way through the dorm and to a small, beat up looking truck in the parking lot. 

“Not as nice as Temari’s car” Kiba chuckled, and rubbed a hand through his hair. He had worn a beanie to the party, and Kankuro liked that his hair was messy and loose today. 

Kankuro opened the passenger door and a couple empty water bottles fell out. The truck’s bench seat had a small dog bed on it, and there were some dog toys scattered around. Kankuro picked up the fallen bottles and returned them to the floor of the car to join the collection of bottles already down there. 

“I guess I should have cleaned it a little bit” Kiba said as he pushed the dog bed to the center of the front seat. He haphazardly cleared some space for Kankuro, throwing some of the bottles into a plastic bag that he had found somewhere. As much as Kankuro liked Kiba, his truck was pretty gross.

Once a spot had been kind of cleared, Kankuro got in the truck. Akamaru hopped in and climbed onto the dog bed, before reconsidering and climbing onto Kankuro’s lap. “No way buddy” Kiba pointed Akamaru to the dog bed so he could hook him up to a little seatbelt. 

Kankuro could forgive all the water bottles when he watched Kiba hook his dog up to a seatbelt. Kiba had told him he liked the way he played fetch with Akamaru, which had caught him off guard at first. But Kankuro could understand it when he watched Kiba interact with his dog. He clearly cared about him so much, and it made Kankuro feel like he could really trust him. 

Once Kiba was settled in his seat, Kankuro leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He felt goofy doing it, but Kiba blushed and smiled. Kankuro was still embarrassed that he was so nervous, but he looked forward to their afternoon together. 

Kiba drove more carefully than Kankuro had expected. They chatted more in the car, Kiba had a binder of CD’s since he couldn’t hook up his phone to play music. They bonded over a shared love of pop punk and sang along to some songs they both knew. Normally Kankuro wouldn’t really sing in the car in front of someone, but Kiba turned the music up and sang so loudly (and not very well) that Kankuro’s voice was almost hidden. Kankuro didn’t mind it that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shikamaru would 1000% be an eagle scout, and Asuma is definitely his scout leader. <3


	10. Chapter 10

Kankuro was glad that he hadn’t gone overboard on the hiking prep. He definitely wouldn’t have needed a first aid kit or snake research, and he was fine in his regular sneakers. He did forget a water bottle, but declined when Kiba offered a questionable looking bottle of gatorade from the floor of the truck. 

The trail was paved and the climb to the top of the overlook was gradual enough that it wasn’t too challenging. Kankuro wasn’t weak, but he definitely wasn’t in the same lacrosse player condition Kiba was. Akamaru was happily sniffing and peeing on everything and looked like he was having the time of his life. .

They had made it to the top of the overlook and were looking over the railing at the land below. Akamaru was rolling around on the ground, and Kiba was pointing things out to Kankuro. He had grown up in the area, and was able to point out some of the landmarks and areas they could see. Kankuro felt Kiba put his hand on his back, and he turned to point out a building in the distance. Kankuro recognized his instinct to scoot away or tense up at the touch, but wanted to lean into it. He knew this was new, but he wanted to let himself trust Kiba and let himself be comfortable. 

The October air was chilly, and Kankuro felt warm as he leaned into Kiba. Kiba turned to him and smiled, sliding his hand so his arm was around Kankuro. “So what’s that building over there?” Kankuro asked, looking for more reasons to stay here with Kiba even longer. 

“That’s uh… I have no idea” Kiba laughed.

Kankuro liked hearing him laugh and leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. It was so nice to feel Kiba squeeze him tighter when he did. They stood there for a few more minutes, just enjoying each other’s company until Akamaru got impatient. He jumped on the backs of the guys’ legs, and tugged toward the trail back down. 

“Before we go, I promised Temari I’d take a picture,” Kankuro admitted, pulling out his phone. He was thankful for the excuse about Temari, but was really happy that he would be able to take a picture of them. 

“Hell yeah!” Kiba scooped up Akamaru, and they turned so the overlook’s view was behind them. 

Kankuro always felt awkward with selfies, he never knew how to make the right kind of face. But it was easy to take the photo with Kiba and Akamaru. His smile was real, they both looked flushed from the cold. Kiba put his arm back around Kankuro and leaned his head on Kankuro’s shoulder. They both grinned widely, and almost like he knew what was going on, Akamaru made a big dog smile, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. 

Kankuro took the picture with his phone, happy with the result. Kiba dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Kankuro, “take one with mine!” They did the same pose, and took another photo. Akamaru somehow smiled again on cue, Kankuro wasn’t sure how he did it. “One more!” Kiba said, and kissed Kankuro on the cheek. Kankuro’s face was definitely redder in the second photo, but he didn’t mind it. “I’ll send it to you”. 

Kankuro dutifully sent Temari the photo on his phone, and she responded almost instantly ‘CUTE’ and another message that said ‘tell him I said hi’ and one more with an eye roll emoji ‘Shika says if there’s a paved trail it doesn’t count as a hike’.

“Temari says hi”

“Really?!” they started to make their way back down the trail “don’t get me wrong, you’re very cool. But she might be the coolest person I’ve ever met.” 

Kankuro chuckled “Yeah, most people usually think that.”  
______________________________

As they made their way back down, they ran into Kakashi walking a group of dogs. He was somehow reading a book while walking, a collection of leashes around his waist. As soon as he saw them, Akamaru started yapping excitedly, pulling toward the group. 

“Hey Kakashi! Who are all these guys?!” 

“Oh, hey.” Kakashi was as mellow as ever when he saw them approaching. “I do dog walking, this is my crew for the day”.

Kiba needed to pet them all as soon as he possibly could. “Can I say hi?!” and as soon as Kakashi agreed, he and Akamaru were in the middle of the group.Kakashi was telling him all the dog’s names but he was too busy petting them to hear them all. The dogs traded butt sniffs with Akamaru, and they all wagged and panted happily. 

Kiba looked over at Kankuro, he had his hand out for a small wrinkly dog to sniff. He waited until the dog gave him a little lick on the hand and patted him on the head gently. It really was Kiba’s favorite thing about him. It didn’t seem like “awkward with dogs but tries hard” should be that up there on Kiba’s list, but he was finding out it was. 

“Hey Akamaru”. Kakashi fished a treat out of a little bag on his belt, and handed it to Akamaru. “Ok, we’ve gotta keep moving, but it was good to see you both”. Kakashi gave an obvious glance between the two of them, and raised his eyebrows and smiled. They shared goodbyes, and Akamaru and his new buddies seemed sad to have to separate.

They had about a 15 minute walk back to the car, and Akamaru had started lagging behind. He was normally full of unlimited energy, but it had been a big weekend for him. “You tired buddy?” Kiba asked his best friend.

“Temari and Shikamaru walked him about a million times this weekend, they loved it.” Kankuro said, as he walked toward Akamaru. He picked him up as he said “I’ll carry him”. Kiba watched Akamaru lick Kankuro on the nose, and really felt like his heart was going to bust open. Akamaru settled quickly in Kankuro’s arms, and it made Kiba so happy to see how gentle and kind Kankuro was. 

They chatted about school, their homes, and their friends as they walked to the truck. They kept talking as they drove towards home, Akamaru sleeping peacefully between them. Kiba had noticed Kankuro had to nudge some bottles around with his feet when he got into the seat, and Kiba made a mental note to probably clean his truck. Shino almost always refused to let Kiba drive him anywhere when his truck was like this, maybe Kiba should have listened to him. 

___________

The date with Kiba went well, but it went quickly, and Kankuro felt like he wanted extra hours added to the day. Temari had called him the night after the hike, asking him for more details and responded excitedly to all of them. She told Kankuro she was happy for him, but also made him promise not to get too behind on his homework. At the end of their conversation she told him she liked Kiba, but if he was rude or made Kankuro get bad grades, she would come kick his ass and he believed her. 

Gaara and Temari had always taken their brother’s grades more seriously than he did. Neither of them had gone to college, not because they weren’t smart, but because they had just decided not to. Temari said it wouldn’t help her in the real world, and nobody knew Gaara’s actual reasoning, he just let himself be a mystery sometimes. They both didn’t hold back from lovingly trashing him about his choice to get a degree in puppetry, but Kankuro knew they really were proud of him. When he had made the dean’s list, Temari had hung the certificate on the fridge in her and Shikamaru’s apartment. It had been embarrassing, but he really was happy to make them proud.

Between classes and practices, the next weeks dragged on and Kankuro did his best to focus on his work. It wasn’t that hard because there were some days they didn’t get to see each other at all, and just texted. They sent each other texts good morning and good night, and it made Kankuro feel so warm every time they did.There were other days where they could only meet for a quick lunch, or a walk with Akamaru. Both Kiba and his dog were so excited to see him every time, and Kankuro felt the same. They kissed when they had free moments alone, and it was hard to stop when they did. 

They had tried once or twice to meet to do homework together, but it wasn’t very productive. Kankuro would find focus on the wrong things, like the way Kiba looked sitting in his room, or the way he smiled. Kiba didn’t seem to try very hard to focus. He usually ended up looking at his phone, and distracting Kankuro with memes. The homework sessions usually ended up being kissing sessions, but neither of them were complaining about it. 

Kankuro’s brain still tried to convince him that this was somehow a mistake on Kiba’s end, and that one day the texts and jokes and dog walks would stop. Living only floors away from each other made the situation interesting, and he didn’t want to take advantage of it by asking Kiba to hang out too much. But every time they spent time together, it was hard for even him to convince himself there wasn’t something special happening. He knew they had only met recently, but they got along together well, and he loved learning more about Kiba. He thought back to their first meeting, and was glad that Kiba was so friendly, since Kankuro knew he had kind of been a jerk. 

He opened his phone to the photo they had taken on the hike. They both looked happy (and so did Akamaru) and it made Kankuro smile. He knew things were going well, and below all the nerves and worries, he felt so lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one! I have a bunch more pages written, but need to just connect it all, I distract myself by googling lacrosse facts. 
> 
> Thank you to @Woofgang69 for helping me so much! <3 
> 
> Also I gotta say, giving a treat to one dog in the middle of a group of random leashed dogs is just not good safety and Kakashi and Kiba would know better, but I thought it was cute!! >:|
> 
> And for real, thank you so much to everyone who's left kudos and comments!!! They make me so, so happy and I treasure them all! :')


	11. Chapter 11

It was Saturday morning, a week after he and Kankuro had gone to the party, and Kiba was in his room getting ready to leave. They had a home game, and he needed to get over to the field to meet up with the team. Their campus was small, but since the sports area was a little bit of a walk, he had said he would drive Naruto over with him. 

Shino had agreed to walk Akamaru, so Kiba thanked him and hugged Akamaru for good luck. He met up with Naruto in the parking lot. He was leaning on Kiba’s truck, eating some kind of protein bar and drinking a Gatorade. “LETS GOOOOOO” he yelled when he saw Kiba, throwing his arms up in the air and splashing some of the drink on himself and the truck. “We’re gonna kick their asses bro.” 

Kiba wasn’t sure they would. The game was against Kirigakure and they had won the state champs last year. Coach Hidan was particularly riled up about this game since the opposing coach was an old teammate of his. Their team’s captain looked like a dweeb, he had those sports goggles like a little kid, but he was still a tough player. Their attack player was a girl who looked too young to be in college, but was quick and fierce and had been the reason they had won state.

They threw their bags in the truck’s bed, and got in. Naruto tossed his food wrapper on the floor and soon as he got in, and scoffed when Kiba asked him to pick it up. “Wait a minute… why’s your truck so clean”. Naruto looked around the front seat with enough surprise that it made Kiba embarrassed, if it had been enough of a mess for Naruto to notice, it must have been pretty bad.

“It’s dangerous to drive around with bottles rolling around on the floor” That was true, but Kiba had really done it since he was driving Kankuro the following weekend. He had spent an hour the other day filling up an embarrassingly large trash bag with bottles and junk. He had even asked Shino to borrow his portable vacuum, he had agreed but insisted on following Kiba outside to witness it. He had pointed out spots Kiba had missed, and made him take Akamaru’s bed in to wash. It was a lot, but Kiba was grateful for it. The truck was the cleanest it had been since he got it, and he didn’t want Naruto to mess it up. 

Naruto’s pointedly put the wrapper in his pocket and started typing on his phone. “Hey, what’s your boyfriend’s number?”

“...Why” Kiba was too concerned about whatever Naruto would do with the number that he didn’t even correct him about the boyfriend thing. 

“Hinata wants to invite him to watch the game with her” 

As worried as he would be about Naruto having the number, he had none of those concerns thinking about Hinata having it. She was a great friend, and a kind person, and he really thought that she and Kankuro would get along. It meant a lot to him that she wanted to spend time with Kankuro. 

“Dude, are you gonna cry or something” Naruto punched his shoulder “You’re getting all googly eyed, it’s gross”. 

Kiba made a face and found Kankuro’s contact info and handed the phone to Naruto. “Oh my god, he’s in your phone as Kank” Naruto muttered, typing the info into his own phone. He threw the phone back to Kiba and shouted again “OK LET’S GOOOO”.

__________

Kankuro had been working on a paper when Hinata had texted him. It had surprised him, and his anxiety almost got the better of him. He thought about saying that he had homework, but then thought about how cool it would be to see Kiba play. Plus, Hinata had seemed nice and friendly when Kankuro had met her before. They agreed to meet up in a little bit, and walk over to the game.

He had no idea what you wore to a lacrosse game, but figured it would be cold. He had put on a scarf that Gaara had knit. It was plain black, but the stitches were really intricate when you looked up close. He and Hinata had agreed to meet up by the dining hall, she said she was parked by the lot there. The scarf was warm, and he was glad he had worn it. Hinata had asked him about it as soon as she saw it, breaking the tension of finding conversation. 

As they walked to the field, he told her about Gaara’s knitting. Hinata said she knew how to knit as well, but couldn’t make anything as impressive. She was easy to talk to, and Kankuro was glad he had agreed to come along.

Hinata was carrying a large tote bag with her, and Kankuro offered to carry it for her. It was heavier than he expected when she handed it to him. “Don’t laugh, I packed some snacks and drinks. Oh, and there’s blankets to sit on. Naruto’s mom and I go to the games together when we can, and make a whole thing of it”.

“That’s really sweet. I guess the game is long then?” Kankuro had never seen a lacrosse game before and had no idea what to expect. He thought football games might be really long, and assumed this was the same. 

Hinata laughed “no, it’s usually an hour, but it’s still fun. My cousin is really into martial arts, and I go to his tournaments a lot. I’m usually there all day, so I’m in the habit of bringing lots of stuff with me”.

They chatted until they got to the field, and Hinata set them up on the bleachers. She set out blankets for them to sit on, and poured hot cider from a thermos. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask which ones you like” she apologized as she pulled out a couple sleeves of mini donuts. 

They drank the cider and ate donuts while they waited for the game to start. Because their university was pretty small, the lacrosse field reminded Kankuro of the football field at his highschool. Not that he had gone to football games, but sometimes they had gym class there.

The opposing team had a decent size crowd on their side of the field. They seemed pretty rowdy and the game hadn’t even started yet. They cheered loudly when their team came out to the field, and went extra wild when a large player lifted a tiny player onto his shoulders. 

Konoha’s players lined up next, it took Kankuro a minute to pick out Kiba because of the helmets. Kiba must have been scanning the crowd, because he waved happily when he spotted Hinata and Kankuro. They waved back, and Kankuro thought Kiba looked cute in his uniform.

Another player who he was guessing was Naruto waved at them too, and started spinning his lacrosse stick around like it was a lightsaber. The coach screamed at him from the sidelines to get his head in the game, and Naruto made a rude gesture back with the lacrosse stick. Kankuro was surprised at the boldness, even for Naruto. But then he heard the coach laughing wildly at it, so he guessed it was ok. Sports were weird.

The game started and Kankuro found it confusing but easy enough to follow. Hinata explained what she could, when she wasn’t cheering loudly for Naruto. Kankuro was still confused how the two of them fit together, but it was clear that Hinata loved Naruto a lot. Kankuro cheered whenever the rest of the Konoha side did, and tried to keep his eye on Kiba as he moved around the field. 

By half time, the teams were tied 4-4. The respective teams were huddled together, and Kankuro “So” Hinata smiled as she refilled their cider “you and Kiba?” 

Kankuro just looked at her, waiting for more of a question. 

“Sorry” Hinata’s smile faded as she handed Kankuro the cup. “I wasn’t trying to be nosy”.

“No! You’re good!” he shook his head at her, upset at himself for misunderstanding the question. “It’s ok, I just wasn’t sure how to answer”.

Her smile returned “Well I think you two are cute together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this way with anybody”. Kankuro looked toward the field, and saw Kiba stretching, his helmet was off and his hair was a mess. “See! Even the way you look at him! You guys are too cute!”

Kankuro felt himself blush “Thanks” He normally kept feelings like this to himself, but Hinata was nice and if he was being honest, he wanted to hear what she had to say about it. “I like him a lot”.

She beamed at him. “Well obviously he likes you a lot too. He usually doesn’t really date anybody, he just kinda had flings. It’s nice to see you guys together like this”.

Kankuro got stuck on the world fling. That must be what this was. If he normally had flings, why would this be any different? He looked at Kiba again and felt a pang in his heart. He was with the rest of the team who were now huddled together, their hands in the center of the circle. They chanted something before breaking apart with their hands in the air. 

Kiba looked toward Kankuro’s seat and winked and blew a kiss before putting his helmet on. Before Kankuro could really react he was back on the field. Hinata nudged Kankuro’s shoulder with her own and looked at him knowingly. 

The game continued, and sometime in the fourth quarter Naruto scored a goal and Hinata cheered so loudly that it made Kankuro cheer too. Kiba had said Naruto wasn’t that bad, and since Hinata was so nice, maybe he should give him another chance. Konoha was taking the lead, and it only seemed to make the opposing team play harder than they already had been. Kankuro and Hinata cheered when Kiba caught the ball. Their cheer was cut short when the captain of the other team slammed into him, knocking into his legs with his lacrosse stick. Kiba fell backwards into the field, and looked like he slammed down hard. 

The players had been colliding throughout the game, but this one looked a little rougher. Kankuro could see from his seat that there was blood on Kiba’s leg, he was still sitting in the grass. Kiba tried to stand and stumbled a little, but Naruto had run to his side and helped prop him up so he didn’t fall. Naruto walked him over to the team’s bench alongside the field, turning back to yell at the opposing player as he did it. 

Kiba was turned toward his coach, with his leg propped up on the bench, so Kankuro couldn’t quite see what was happening. He looked to Hinata for reassurance. She looked a little worried, but patted Kankuro’s hand as she said “I’m sure he’s fine. If it was really serious they would call a medic”. He must have still looked unsure “Naruto gets hurt all the time! He’s had a couple concussions too”. They could hear Naruto on the field, still yelling at the other player.

The game was paused for a few minutes, but eventually continued. Kiba stayed on the bench. Kankuro couldn’t really see what was going on with him, but Hinata reminded him since they hadn’t made him leave, it couldn’t be too bad. The other team continued to play fiercely, but Naruto had started playing on a whole other level. He scored two additional goals before the game ended, making Konoha the winner. Hinata cheered wildly and Kankuro found himself joining in again, he was glad to see that they had won. 

They saw Naruto help Kiba again as the teams left the field. He was still hobbling on that leg, but Naruto had him lifted up. Kankuro and Hinata cleaned up their stuff, and he thanked her again for packing everything so nicely. 

“Of course, I like doing it. I hope we can go to another game together again. You can meet Naruto’s mom, she’s a lot of fun”. 

Kankuro’s normal instinct was to think Hinata was being nice about wanting them to go together again. But he believed her. She was very kind, and they got along well. The walk back to the dorms went quickly. Kankuro promised to get the scarf pattern from Gaara and text it to Hinata. Hinata made Kankuro take the extra pack of donuts they had leftover. 

Kakuro texted Kiba once he got back to his room. ‘Just wanted to check on you, let me know how you’re doing. Congrats on the win!’ he added a heart emoji and sent it before he could second guess himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on my first Naruto watch through right now, and just saw all the eps about Naruto's mom and now I just want to write about her being ok and alive and hanging out at her son's lacrosse game ok?!?! T___T
> 
> Know that everyone is alive in this au, damnit! >:(   
> (except Kankuro's mom, oops)
> 
> In case you're wondering who the tiny fierce lacrosse player, (because obviously you must be) her name is Nori and you can read about her here:   
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050764/chapters/71305611


	12. Chapter 12

Kiba’s leg hurt like hell, it was bruised and bleeding. His coach had checked it out, but hadn’t seemed overly concerned. He had told Kiba that he was on the bench for the rest of the game, and then called him a wimp. It was a tough love kind of thing, and it made him feel better because it let him know it wasn’t too serious.

He was glad he wasn’t hurt, but he was also glad he didn’t need to be stretchered off the field or something embarrassing. It had been really nice seeing Kankuro and Hinata in the bleachers. It looked like Hinata had set things up like she normally did, and he was sure Kankuro was appreciating it. 

They had their post game team talk, and Kiba had gotten showered and ready to head back. Coach Hidan made him get checked out first. The medical staff recommended staying off it for the next couple days, icing it, and keeping it clean. Kiba agreed, but was worried about missing his walks with Akamaru. He’d make it work. They gave him a crutch and sent him home. 

Naruto had waited for him, excited for the excuse to drive Kiba’s truck. Kiba let him know he was fine to drive, but Naruto insisted. He told Kiba he owed him for trying to fight the other captain and Kiba begrudgingly handed him the keys.

As Naruto drove back, he saw the text from Kankuro. It felt nice to be checked up on. There was also a text from Hinata that said “He’s cute and he’s worried about you! Let me know if you need anything”. Naruto’s phone rang, and Kiba stopped him from answering while driving. 

“That’s my dad’s ringtone, can you pick it up if you won’t let me answer?” loud music was playing from the phone.

Kiba answered the call and put it on speaker. Naruto’s parents were both on the line, and asked how the game had gone. They both cheered loudly when the guys told them they had won. Naruto said Kiba had gotten his ass kicked, making it sound much more dramatic and bloody than it actually had been. 

“Do you need anything?” Naruto’s mom asked “Do you need me to beat anyone up for you?”

Kiba chuckled, “I’m fine, I promise it’s not as bad as he made it sound”

“Still, make sure you don’t overdo it Kiba” she said kindly. “Naruto will carry your books for you and do your laundry so you don’t have to walk around”. 

Naruto muttered something about his parents not treating him like a baby when he got hurt. He told them again about all the goals he had scored, and they listened excitedly and cheered some more. They asked Kiba to promise not to hurt himself (he promised) and asked Naruto to promise to help Kiba if he needed it (he refused). 

Back at the dorm, Kiba swore he was fine, and made it up to his dorm room with a lot of effort and difficulty balancing. Shino wasn’t there, but had left a note saying Akamaru had been out a few hours before, and that he had left his dog youtube videos on for him. 

Akamaru bounced happily around his feet, jumping up on his legs. It hurt and opened up the cut some and it started bleeding some more. “Ow, fuck!” Kiba exclaimed, and Akamaru looked so sad once he heard it. “No, it’s not your fault. Just, no jumping right now buddy”. Once Akamaru felt like Kiba was ok, he pawed at the door gently. It was his normal signal for needing to go out, and Kiba really did not feel up to it. 

He remembered the texts he had gotten on the car ride back, and sent responses. ‘thanks hope u had fun’ he sent to Hinata. To Kankuro he sent a message thanking him, with a heart emoji. And another reply of ‘would u mind helping me walk akamaru if u have a sec’. 

Kankuro had responded that he would be up in a few minutes, and Kiba tried to get settled. He cleaned up the blood from his leg, and changed into joggers and a sweatshirt. He sat in his bed and propped his leg up on a pillow. He only had one pillow, so he bunched up a sweatshirt and some blankets to lean against the headboard with. He felt a little silly, but knew that he had to actually rest, so he would be healed up by next practice. 

Kankuro knocked on the door a few minutes later, and Kiba let him know the door was unlocked. Once he came in, Akamaru jumped up on him, almost as excited to see him as he had been to see Kiba. Once Kankuro was done petting him, he looked up and Kiba saw his eyes track from the crutch leaning on the desk, to Kiba sitting up in bed with his leg propped on the pillow. His face looked too concerned already and Kiba spoke before he could. 

“I swear I’m fine. They give you a crutch for a stubbed toe. I just need to ice it for a day and I’ll be good”. 

“There’s no ice on it”

“Yeah. Shit”. Kiba had meant to get an ice pack from the medical office, and had forgotten. “I’ll get one later. I’m ok, I promise”. 

Kankuro looked skeptical, but didn’t have time to say much because Akamaru yipped and pawed at the door a little more. Kankuro got him leashed up and gave Kiba a quick kiss on the cheek before heading out. 

They returned 15 minutes later, Kankuro not only had Akamaru with him, but had brought along a backpack as well. He pulled out a pack of donuts that Kiba recognized as the ones Hinata brought to games. He also pulled out a disposable ice pack, a bottle of white gatorade, and an extra pillow. 

Akamaru hopped on the bed, avoiding Kiba’s legs this time. Kankuro stood next to the bed and handed Kiba the pillow first, and Kiba propped it up behind himself. Next Kankuro handed him the white gatorade and the donuts started working on opening the ice pack package. 

“Did I tell you this was my favorite one? Cause it is!” He hadn’t realized how hungry he was and was already opening the snacks.

“No, but I took a guess because there were about 50 of them in your truck,” Kankuro said. His eyes were still on the package he was opening, but his mouth was turned up in a smile. 

Kiba reached forward and pulled at the edge of Kankuro’s shirt, which was all he could really reach without getting up. Kankuro looked down at him, still smiling, and Kiba pulled it again so Kankuro sat down on the bed too. He handed Kiba the ice pack and he put it on his leg, doing his best not to wince so he’d look tough. 

“Do you want to keep me company since I just need to sit here?” Kiba asked. He knew he could watch a movie alone or something, but he would rather have Kankuro keep him company. 

“Yeah, I’d like that”

“I like _you_ ” Kiba replied. He knew it was cheesy, but the bag of stuff Kankuro had brought had made him so happy. It showed the kind of person Kankuro was, and Kiba loved that he was here with him. 

“I like you too” Kankuro’s smile got bigger. He started to move to the other side of the bed between Kiba and the wall, so Kiba wouldn’t have to move. They made eye contact in the split second that Kankuro’s legs were straddled on either side of Kiba’s as he passed over him. They both blushed and Kiba wanted very badly to pull him into a kiss, but knew this probably wasn’t the time. 

Kankuro settled next to him, and Akamaru climbed right into his lap. Kiba was grateful the bed was small, because they were pressed up next to each other, and Kankuro shifted his arm around Kiba. 

“I probably should have asked this before I got all the way over here, but do you need anything else?” 

Kiba turned to the side and kissed him “I’m good. I’m just happy you’re here”. And he was. Just having Kankuro there felt right, and he was happy that they were whatever they were.

They talked about the game, Kankuro said it had been fun to watch, except for the part where Kiba had gotten hurt. It sounded like he and Hinata had a good time together, and Kiba’s heart warmed thinking about people he cared about getting along. 

Hinata had explained most of the rules, but Kankuro asked a few questions about the rules. Kiba explained them the best he could, and pulled up some youtube videos to show examples. He was worried it might be boring, but Kankuro seemed interested. 

Eventually they were just watching silly videos together, taking turns showing each other ones they liked. Kiba thought about getting his laptop, but liked that they had to lean so closely to look at the small phone screen. 

They sat there for a while. Eventually Kiba had to get up to use the bathroom, and he swore to Kankuro he didn’t need any help getting down the hall. Kiba hobbled there with his crutch, and tried to fix his hair in the bathroom mirror.

He opened the door back to his room, and looked at Kankuro in his bed. Akamaru was snoozing in his lap, and Kankuro was looking at his phone with one hand, and petting Akamaru’s ears with the other. He looked up at Kiba and smiled and Kiba realized he had never fallen this hard for someone before. He realized with a sudden clarity that he wanted Kankuro to be his boyfriend. He didn’t want things to be unclear, he wanted to sit in his bed and look at dumb memes with his dog and his _boyfriend_. 

He had a girlfriend, and then a boyfriend when he was a teenager, when things like relationship labels had seemed critically important. As he got older, he hadn’t really felt a need to define things. He was dating to have fun, not to get tied down to anything. But he wanted things with Kankuro to feel solid, because they did in Kiba’s heart.

“Why are you just standing there looking at me?”

Kiba really had just been standing there looking at him, hadn’t he. He thought about asking him right then and there, but Kankuro spoke first.

“Is your leg ok? Do you need help?” he started getting out of Kiba’s bed, gently moving Akamaru to the side. 

“No, it’s ok” he hopped over to his bed the best he could. “I’m good, it was just nice to look at you”

Kankuro had shifted over a little when he went to get up, and Kiba leaned on him instead of the headboard when he got back into bed. He felt Kankuro tense up almost immediately, and it broke his heart.

Kiba apologized and started to move off of him, but Kankuro responded by crossing his arms over Kiba’s chest and holding him there. 

“No, I like it” he said, resting his chin on Kiba’s shoulder. “Sorry. I was just surprised”.

“You’re in my bed dude, how much clearer can I make it that I like you?” Kiba snuggled closer to him and loved that it made Kankuro hold onto him a little tighter. 

“It’s still kind of hard to believe”

“Well it shouldn’t be” Kiba thought about asking him to make things official right there, but was worried Kankuro would think he was doing it just to be nice or something. 

Kankuro’s phone buzzed, when he held it up to check they could both see that it was an incoming facetime call from Shikamaru.

“Do you want me to move over?” Kiba asked, but Kankuro just kept holding onto him as a response. 

Kankuro answered the call, and a video opened up to a closeup on a dog’s face. The dog looked a little confused to have a phone in its face. Kiba appreciated all dogs, but the best word he could describe this one with would be “plain”. It was a brown dog, with a little bit of grey on its muzzle. 

The phone’s screen paused for a moment as the camera flipped and they were face to face with Temari and Shikamaru. Temari’s eyes were wide and her mouth fell open as she looked at Kiba and Kankuro, then her face broke into a big smile.  
After a beat, she shouted “We adopted a dog!” 

“Isn’t she cute?!” Shikmaru flipped the phone’s camera so they were face to face with the dog again. The dog still looked a little confused, but they could see her tail start to wag as Shikmaru’s voice came from off screen “And she’s a good girl, isn’t she? Aren’t you Riku?”

Temari flipped the camera back to her face “That’s not her name, her name is Kamatari”. Shikamaru joined her on the screen and she continued. “We had a lot of fun with Akamaru a couple weeks ago, and we had talked about getting a dog before anyway. We got her at the shelter and she’s perfect”.

They all talked for a few more minutes about the new dog, and Kankuro put Akamaru on camera so the dogs could “meet”. Akamaru was experienced with screens from all his youtube for dogs videos, and looked right at Riku/Kamatari and made a happy woof. The other dog still looked confused, but her ears perked up when she heard the bark. 

Temari asked Kiba for some advice on dog things and he gave the best advice he could. They listened and thanked him. When Temari said “Akamaru’s so good! We want her to listen well like him!” Kiba thought it might have been the proudest he had ever been of himself. 

They planned a dog playdate for the upcoming weeks and Shikamaru said he would take them all to a good trail nearby. The conversation wound down, Shikamaru said he needed to go take Riku/Kamatari on a walk and Temari said he had already walked her 20 times that day so she was probably ok. It was clear that the couple was so happy about their new addition, and Kiba was happy for them. They made plans for meeting up at the Halloween party, and said their goodbyes and hung up.

________

It felt good to be sitting here with Kiba. It felt good that he and Temari and Shikamaru got along. Kankuro hadn’t really planned on staying in bed all day, he usually felt lazy when he did it. But this felt good, they were talking and laughing and kissing a little. Kankuro really wanted to be kissing some more, but didn’t know if that was the right thing to do, since he was technically there since Kiba was injured.

They settled on watching a movie, Kiba pulled out his laptop and put something silly that really wasn’t Kankuro’s thing, but he got a couple laughs out of it. It had been a few hours, so he climbed out of the bed and fed Akamaru and took him out again. It was getting later and it was really cold, and he hadn’t brought a coat for himself or Akamaru. He was planning on walking him longer, but felt bad when he saw the little guy was shivering. 

When he got back to the room, he was still cold. Akamaru jumped on the bed and dove under some of the blankets. “Buddy, you’re so cold!” Kiba said to him, and wrapped him up tighter in the blanket.”You must be cold too” he said to Kankuro, and his face looked like he had an idea. He rummaged around in the blankets and hoodies at the end of the bed, and tossed something to Kankuro. It was his blanket, that he had lent Kiba the first night he had really met him. It was kind of covered in dog hair, but he thought it was sweet that it was in Kiba’s bed. 

Kankuro tossed the blanket on the bed where he had been sitting before and climbed back over Kiba to get in the bed. This time when his legs were straddling him, he leaned over and kissed him. Kiba didn’t hesitate to pull him forward by his shirt, and kissed him hard. Kankuro kind of panicked that he was on top of him like this, he wasn’t sure what to do now, and what he had initiated. He didn’t have to worry about it long because they both stopped as they heard the door open behind them. Kankuro jumped off Kiba so fast he kind of stumbled into the desk next to the bed. 

“Oh” the new arrival said, pretty dryly. Kankuro recognized him as Kiba’s roommate Shino. “Thanks for the warning” Shino said, directing the comment at Kiba “you should really learn to lock the door”.

“I should go” Kankuro said, he knew his face was beet red, and he just wanted to escape the situation.

Kiba said “no it’s ok” at the same time as Shino said “nice to see you again”. It was awkward and Kankuro really wanted to spend more time with Kiba, but he had no idea what to do about his roommate. Shino was still standing by the door like he was expecting Kankuro to leave right then, so Kankuro started to gather his bags. 

Kiba grabbed his hand “you can stay”. 

“No, it’s really ok, I have a paper to write” the paper he had to write was actually due in three weeks, but there was no time but the present, right?

Shino didn’t say anything else, but sat down at his desk and put a pair of headphones on and opened a laptop.

“Sorry he’s cranky” Kiba said in a loud whisper.

“I can hear you” said Shino, but still chuckled. “It’s been a long day” he turned and it seemed then that he realized what was going on with Kiba’s leg. “You ok?”

Kiba said he was, and Shino apologized to Kankuro for being cranky, but did say that he had work to do. Kankuro completely understood what it was like to want to relax in your own dorm room, and told him he understood. Kiba pouted a little, but Kankuro gave him a quick peck goodbye and made him promise to stay off his leg as much as he could. 

It still felt awkward, but Kankuro felt better than maybe Shino didn’t completely hate him. Kankuro grabbed his backpack and didn’t realize he had left his pillow in Kiba’s bed until he got back to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watching silly youtube videos with someone is a love language.
> 
> One of the main deer in the Nara's forest is named Rikumaru and Temari's ferret summon is named Kamatari! So that's where the dog names come from. :3
> 
> How do sports injuries work? We just don't know. Is this realistic? Maybe not, but I just wanted a cute 'caring for an injured person' scene, it felt like a fanfic right of passage.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


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